If We Ever Meet Again
by Authoress-in-training
Summary: One small twist of fate can change the course of history. Countless lives are altered forever and irreparably by a single event. And yet some people are connected by something much stronger than fate, their souls tied together in a way that can never be broken, destined to find each other no matter what…
1. Prologue: Time Stands Still

Prologue

* * *

Entire cities were demolished. Forests reduced to wildfire. Riverbeds left dry and desolate. Corpses lay everywhere, the smell of blood, sweat, and magic mixing together in the hot, dirty air to form a distinct perfume. Even the royal palace hadn't escaped destruction – it was barely more than a pile of rocks and rubble now, the crumbling façade mimicking the strength of its inhabitants.

Said inhabitants, the rulers of the once-powerful planet Sparx, were at that moment kneeling in a hallway over the dead body of their beloved older daughter Daphne. Next to Daphne's body squirmed a tiny redheaded infant wrapped in a blue blanket, her crying currently being ignored by the king and queen in their grief.

"My beautiful daughter," Queen Miriam sobbed, gripping the corpse's lifeless hand as if it were the only thing anchoring her to this world. "How did they get inside the castle? Where were the guards?" Her thoughts became more incoherent as the sobs began to overtake her. "_Why_ did this have to happen? What were they fighting for? What could possibly be worth all this destruction and pain?" Any shred of rationality was gone, as the queen dissolved into a shaking, crying mess.

"Dry your eyes, my love," King Oritel urged, wrapping his arms around his wife's waist and pulling her into his lap, as what used to be Daphne's limp arm flopped back to her side. "Crying will not bring her back."

"_How_ can you be so calm?" Miriam cried, gesturing wildly with her arms in the motions of someone not entirely lucid. "Our world is destroyed, thousands of our subjects dead, and even our own daughter was lost to this terrible, pointless fight. And you don't even seem sad! The man I fell in love with had a _heart_."

"You think it doesn't hurt me to see all this? All the demolition of our cities, the people lying dead in the streets, our daughter's corpse! Of course it's affecting me."

"Then why doesn't it look like you do?"

"Because despite all of this, we still came out victorious today. And what remain of our people will be looking to us for guidance in the coming months, as we rebuild and grow stronger. If we cannot appear strong and confident, what chance does Sparx have of ever coming back from this? That would mean they have won. And I refuse to let that happen."

Miriam inhaled, her breaths ragged and shaky, but the tears had stopped for the moment as she considered her husband's words. When she finally spoke, it was in the voice of a scared little girl. "I don't… I don't know if I'm strong enough for that."

"In all honesty, I'm not sure that I am either. But what choice do we have? With great power also comes the burden of responsibility. We both knew that when we inherited the throne."

The queen closed her eyes and rested her head in the curve of her husband's shoulder, too overcome in her grief to speak. Oritel chose his words carefully.

"There has been great destruction, yes," he said, "but it was not complete annihilation. We can recover from this; we _will_ recover, and grow stronger than before. As for Daphne…" His voice caught in his throat momentarily. "She made a great sacrifice, and she will never be forgotten. She shall live on in the hearts and minds of the people of Sparx; extolled as a true hero, who gave her life to ensure the survival of the Great Dragon's Flame – and her little sister, the remaining heir to the throne." The crying infant quieted as her father scooped her up and cradled her in his arms.

At this, Miriam's eyes seemed to light up as she pulled the child into her own arms, rocking her back and forth. "Oh, my beautiful baby," she cooed to the mewling little one, whose tiny brain had perceived nothing of the fierce battle that had claimed her sister's life. "Shhh… it's alright. Mommy's here." Oritel smiled as he watched his wife with their daughter.

"We will rebuild Sparx as a new world, worthy of the princess who will inherit it."

"To think we might have lost her too…" Miriam mused, tickling the baby's fingers. "At least Fate had the good sense to spare us one daughter."

"Indeed." Oritel cast another look at Daphne's corpse, then back to Miriam and their infant daughter. "Those who gave their lives today will never be forgotten. But we will move forward. This will not define us for all eternity." He stood, reaching down a hand to Miriam. "My queen."

"My king." She took his hand and pulled herself up. "So we just… move on? Put this all behind us? Try to act like today didn't shatter our hearts into a million pieces? Because I can't do that, Oritel; I just can't."

"I never said that." Oritel took a deep breath, feeling Miriam lean her head against his shoulder; clinging to him for support. In that moment, something inside of him shifted – like his grief and pain had been locked behind a heavy steel door, only to be accessed in times of extreme necessity. The entire magical dimension would be looking at the two of them in the coming months, as Sparx rebuilt, and at least one of them would have to be strong. "We'll just start by taking it day by day, sweetheart. It will get easier as time passes."

A sorrowful look flitted across Miriam's face. "I sure hope so."

"Come, now." He looped his arm through hers. "Let's go to bed. Everything will be clearer in the morning, after a good night's sleep. And then we can start to restore our kingdom to its former glory."

Miriam inhaled deeply, clutching her daughter tightly to her chest. "She sleeps with us. I will not let her out of my sight again." Something like a strangled wail rose up out of her chest. "Oh, to think we never even got to say goodbye to Daphne! And now she's gone – gone, gone, _gone_, and we'll never get her back…"

"There, there, my love." Oritel placed a hand on his wife's back, whispering a calming spell under his breath. Subtly, a steady stream of magic flowed from his fingertips into Miriam's body, relaxing her breathing and soothing her mind. "It will be all right. Everything is going to be all right…"

His hand still on her back, gently leading her, the pair made their way through the remains of the palace to the bedroom.

* * *

The sun slipped low onto the horizon, staining the yellowing sky with streaks of blood red as its final act on such a war-torn day. Then night dropped her shadowy cloak upon the world, blanketing Sparx in darkness.

With the cover of night on their side, a small group of select individuals gathered in the woods near the remains of the royal palace. They came silently and alone, many using invisibility spells or other magic devices to shield themselves from view.

Finally, a tall, curvy woman with raven-black hair lowered her dark hood and looked around. "Twelve people," she exclaimed in a high, sharp voice. "This is everyone? This is all that's left?"

"Afraid so, Ariana," a brunette to her right said.

The dark-haired woman scowled. "How in the realms did they overpower us? We had every element on our side. Did someone talk?" She stared threateningly at every member of the group, her piercing blue eyes cold as stone.

"Who died and left you in charge?" a spiky-haired male sneered.

Ariana turned the full force of her gaze on him, leveling him with her stare until he cringed. "Do not speak of our fallen leaders that way, Zachary. And I was Belladona's closest confidante – after her other sisters, of course. It is only natural. Does anyone dare challenge me?" Nothing but silence. Her bright red lips curled into a smirk. "Very well then. I will lead."

"Okay, _fearless leader,_" he scoffed. "Do you want to fill the rest of us in on your brilliant plan B? That is, of course, assuming you even have one."

"As a matter of fact, I do." Ariana waited until she knew that all the others would be hanging on to her every word. "We are going underground."

"What?" Zachary's jaw dropped almost to the ground. "How is that a plan? That's like retreating!"

"It is strategic," she insisted, pushing the full weight of her intimidating aura into the words. "Right now we're in no shape for another battle. It would destroy everything we have left, and more. We will wait, bide our time, perhaps train a new generation to follow in our footsteps. And then, when the time is right, we will strike where they least expect it."

With the nature of Ariana's powers, she could sense other people's thoughts and emotions; she knew there was hesitation and uneasiness at her proposed plan. So she reached for something that she knew would pacify the others. "Make no mistake – the Dragon Fire will be ours one day. It is rightfully so, and so it will be." That statement was met with exuberant cheers, and Ariana allowed herself a moment's relaxation.

"It'll never work," a voice said from the trees.

Instantly, the muscles in her back tensed up. "Who's there?" she demanded into the night. Her mind immediately jumped to the worst: they had been discovered by royal guards, and the last remaining few were going to be rounded up and carted off to Omega. _Well, not if I have anything to say about it,_ she thought, channeling energy into her fingertips in preparation for a fight. If it came down to it, there was nothing she wouldn't do to keep the cause alive – even give her own life.

An amused chuckle came from the direction of the voice, and Ariana whirled around to see a person appearing out of the darkness, wearing the same dark cloak that adorned her own body. He had strong features, high cheekbones, and long reddish-blond hair that practically glowed in the darkness. But it was his eyes that were the most remarkable – piercing, bright, brilliantly gold.

Those eyes met her own, locking onto them completely. A shiver raced down her spine that had nothing at all to do with the cold night.

"You can relax," he continued, in the same haughty, authoritative voice that had spoken to her from the trees. "We're on the same side." Ariana pursed her lips but didn't release her grip on her magic. He shrugged and nodded. "Suit yourself."

"You claim that we are on the same side, yet I've never seen you before. Why is that?" she insisted, pushing a bit of her mind-control power into her voice. "_You will tell me._"

But he only laughed, waving away her control. "Is that the best you can do? You'll have to try much harder if you want this lot to have any chance of survival."

"Why should I have to defend myself to you? I don't even know you! For all I know, you're a spy from the palace." The energy at her fingertips flared brighter.

He smirked knowingly. "_This_, my dear, is exactly why you won't stand a chance. You are not cut out for leadership, Ariana, and the sooner you realize that, the better. You're not Belladona, and you never will be."

"You have no idea what you're saying." Despite herself, her face was starting to flush with anger. "Belladona confided everything in me. She trusted me with secrets she didn't even tell her sisters. Who better to keep the cause alive than myself?"

"She told you everything, did she? Did she ever mention me?"

Ariana faltered. The mystery man grinned like the cat who'd got the canary.

"As I thought." He raised his hood. "Well, as much fun as this has been, I'd better be going while I'm still a free man. It was truly lovely to speak with you, Ariana. I wish you the best of luck, I really do." His eyes hardened. "You're going to need all the luck you can get if you think you're going to keep this crumbling coven from turning to ashes."

At that, Ariana exploded, releasing the energy in a powerful, white-hot ball that lit up the forest in the few seconds it took to travel towards the mysterious stranger – who was completely unfazed. Almost lazily, he held out one hand with fingers outstretched and caught her magic like a baseball, grabbing it in his palm and crushing it to dust.

Ariana stifled a gasp. _Who was this man?_

"Who are you?" she demanded. "I _order_ you to tell me who you are."

"No one gives me orders," he said darkly. "Not anymore."

And then before she could open her mouth again, he was gone.

Ariana blinked several times, almost unwilling to trust her own vision. Eventually, she looked away and returned to her followers (it was strange to think of them as that now, when they had all been Belladona's followers for so long), who were still rejoicing. Forcing a smile onto her face, she tried not to think about that strange encounter.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the memory of those eerie golden eyes out of her mind.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm ba-ack! Yes, despite what I said about wanting to take time to work on original stuff, I just couldn't stay away for too long. It's official - my Sparxshipping addiction is beyond all hope of a cure.**

**So this particular idea has been kicking around in my head for a while now. It's enormously and drastically AU, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, but I will definitely be using elements of canon. I already have a plot outline and everything, and I'm _very_ excited with my plan so far. It's going to be epic. :)**

**I know this first bit is sort of a tease, because I'm setting you up but then leaving you with so many questions of "well what happens _next_?" I'm sorry! Really, I am! Updates should be somewhat regular-ish for a while, but I can't make any promises when school starts again (gah, why am I already thinking about that? It's only the middle of summer! Bad Authoress!), because this year promises to be crazy like no other.**

**But enough about that already. You know the drill by now - the more you review, the more motivated I am to get chapter one up sooner. Come on, it's a win-win situation here, people. ;-)**

**xoxo,**

**- Authoress**


	2. All the Right Reasons

"Bloom Elena Annelise Dragomir!"

The Sparx royal reception hall was considered by many to be one of the most spectacular sights in the universe, its crowning glory the enormous, sweeping grand staircase that led down into the hall. Many wonderful parties and balls had taken place within these walls, commencing as the king and queen made their glorious descent, smiling and waving to the crowd…

But sometimes, someone else saw fit to use the staircase in a much less dignified way. Instead of the graceful click of heels on marble, there was a squeaking noise as an object the approximate size and shape of a person glided smoothly down the polished mahogany banister, landing with a slight wobble at the bottom. Said person righted herself, revealing the form of a slender seventeen-year-old girl of average height, and pushed her mass of long, unruly bright red curls off her face, showing off a delicate, heart-shaped face and sapphire-blue eyes.

"Yes, Mother?" Princess Bloom of Sparx stared up at her mother with an endearingly innocent look, batting her eyelashes a few times for good measure.

Queen Miriam huffed, placing her hands on her hips. The years since the Ancestresses' attack had taken their toll on her, and though she was still lovely, there was something almost cracked about her looks, like a china doll close to shattering. She was thin but unhealthily so, in the way that came from not eating, and her skin was tighter, especially around her eyes, which were always clouded with a haze of medication that kept her functional. "_How_ many times do I have to tell you about sliding down that thing? It is most undignified, and _entirely_ unbecoming of a young lady with your breeding."

None of that had at all affected her ability to raise her daughter to her exacting standards of how a princess should grow up; or try to, at least, as Bloom was quite determined to thwart her mother's efforts at every turn. "But it's so much _fun_!" the younger woman whined, sounding seven years old instead of seventeen. "And since you basically never let me out of the palace, what else am I supposed to do around here?"

The queen pursed her lips. "You _know_ that the restrictions are only–"

"For my own safety, because there are bad people out there who want to steal my powers. _I know_. You've only told me a thousand times before. What are you going to do when I'm at Alfea and you can't boss me around every single second of every single day? You're going to have to find a new hobby."

Miriam's eyes hardened. "Your father and I agreed to send you to Alfea because we believed it would benefit you to meet other young people from across the dimension. It does _not_ mean that we are any less concerned about your safety. I strongly urge you to consider the fact that your newfound freedom can be revoked at any time, if we are forced to reevaluate your maturity and capability of handling yourself in Magix."

"_Mom_." Bloom rolled her eyes. "I'm not a baby anymore. In fact, I'm almost a legal adult. So will you _please_ start treating me like one?"

"If you truly wish to be treated like an adult, perhaps you should refrain from such things as sliding down the staircase." Miriam stared pointedly at her daughter for a moment, then exhaled, shoulders slumping with the weight of her sigh as she pressed her fingers to her temples. "It's not that we don't trust you, darling. But the magical dimension is a vast and scary place. There are monsters out there, Bloom, monsters your father and I have tried to keep as far away from you as possible for your entire life thus far. All we've ever wanted to do is keep you safe." Miriam's eyes fluttered closed, and Bloom just knew that her mother was thinking about Daphne, her older sister who had died before she was old enough to remember much of anything. Died saving Bloom from the Ancestral Witch coven, who had nearly succeeded in their efforts to steal the Dragon Fire and raze Sparx to lifeless rubble seventeen years ago.

Unexpectedly, the young princess felt her throat tighten. "I know, Mom," she said softly, reaching out one hand to her mother's. Miriam's eyes snapped open at the touch of her daughter's hand, hesitating momentarily.

"Why don't you go finish packing? You won't have servants to do everything for you at Alfea, after all." The queen smiled indulgently at her daughter, although a more astute observer would have noticed how the smile didn't quite reach her eyes, the way Bloom's did as she bounded up the stairs again. Nor did the young redhead see the way the smile almost immediately slid off her mother's lips as she watched her daughter running upstairs, turning into something of a pensive frown.

No, Princess Bloom only had a mind for one thing: getting up to her bedroom. Like the rest of the palace, it was lavish and elegant, as befitting the princess of Sparx: an enormous four-poster bed stood on a dais in almost the exact center of the room, canopied in gold with twisted golden cords that had heavy silk fringed tassels tying back the bed-curtains, and a white coverlet with a pattern of scarlet and green. Tall wardrobes stood back against the wall to one side of the bed; beside them low tables, and upon the tables were placed jewelry boxes as rare and beautiful as the jewels they contained, more brushes and combs than a dozen vain princesses could use, cut-crystal bottles of perfume with emerald caps, and a vase of fresh red and white roses that were replaced every day. There was a fireplace on the wall opposite the bed, and on the other side of the room was an arched wall of windows that reached from the high ceiling to the padded white and gold velvet window seat. The walls that met the window on either side were lined with bookshelves that were filled with hundreds of leather bound volumes (although these were rarely cracked by the young and often frivolous princess), and there was a desk with innumerable drawers and pigeonholes, a tall pile of fine white paper, a dozen colors of ink in gilt or cut-glass bottles, and pens and nibs by the hundreds.

It was a room thousands of girls would have killed for, but having known nothing but such luxury since she was old enough to have defined memories, Bloom didn't find anything unusual or special about it. To her, like the rest of the palace, it was nothing more than an exceptionally gilded cage, one she couldn't wait to be free of. "Kiko?" she called, her voice high and lilting. "Where are you, silly bunny?"

A pair of tall rabbit ears poked up from under a decorative pillow, and within seconds Kiko was scampering across the room and into his princess's waiting arms. "Hey there, little guy," she cooed, kissing the top of his head. "How are you?" Kiko let out an indigant-sounding squeak in response, and Bloom laughed, giving him a scratch behind the ears.

"You hungry?" she continued, cradling him in her arms as she padded over the plush amber-colored carpeting to her massive bed, flopping down and sprawling across it in a way that would have had her mother gasping with horror. Kiko's ears flapped up and down eagerly, and taking that as a yes, she snapped her fingers and materialized a couple carrots for him. "There you go." She smiled as he immediately started chomping. "I'm so glad I get to take you with me to Alfea. It just wouldn't be the same without you."

Kiko looked up from his snack for long enough to give her what looked like a goofy grin. Ever since she'd gotten him as a little girl, Bloom had been half-convinced that there was something… _extra_ about Kiko, something that made him more special than just any other rabbit. He seemed to understand her beyond just the usual recognition of when it was food time, and some of his mannerisms were almost alarmingly human. She had never been able to prove that there was anything magical about him, but she loved having Kiko around all the same. If nothing else, he was an excellent listener, which was something she sorely lacked in her life.

"Can you believe we're leaving in less than a week?" Bloom sighed wistfully, propping her head up on her hands and turning her attention slightly away from her carrot-munching pet. "It almost doesn't feel real… I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and that it's all going to be a dream."

She rolled over and grabbed one of the many gold-trimmed pillows piled stylishly on her bed, squeezing it between her arms. "I wonder what Magix is like? It sounds incredible, but I guess anything would after seventeen years of never being allowed to leave Sparx." Her eyelids fluttered closed as she shifted onto her back, tucking the pillow under her head. "I hope the other girls are nice. I worry that I'll seem childish to them. I mean, they've all been living on their own at school for a couple years now, and here I am, barely even allowed to leave the palace. What if none of them like me, and I don't make any friends?"

Kiko, tired of being ignored, jumped onto her chest and started to squeak rather loudly, causing her eyes to fly open with a start. "I'm sorry! Of course I'll always have you, little guy." Satisifed, he jumped down and snuggled up into the crook of her neck. She smiled and gave his soft fur a couple of strokes.

"I'm worried about Mom, too. As annoying as she gets sometimes, it must have been hard for her, losing Daphne like that. Even if I'll never tell her that, I understand where she's coming from." Bloom rolled onto her stomach again, Kiko bouncing up and down in front of her. "I know they just want me to be safe. But what did they think they were going to do, lock me up in the palace for my entire life? What kind of a queen will I be one day if I've never even left the planet?"

Kiko nodded his agreement, so enthusiastically that the redhead couldn't help but giggle. Almost absently, she reached out a finger to scratch him under the chin. "Besides, the Ancestresses' attack was years ago. How bad could it really be out there?"

* * *

"Okay, ladies, that's our class for today. Don't forget to read chapter two for homework tonight, and anyone feeling particularly adventurous can try the spell on page nineteen. Be careful, though; I don't want to hear anything from Ms. Griffin about you girls burning down the school on my supposed say-so."

The Cloud Tower sophomore Defensive Magic class giggled self-consciously – the distinct flavor of laughter that came from wanting someone to like you, not actually thinking they were funny. With shy smiles on their faces, they slowly gathered up their books and trickled out of the classroom, 'casually' lingering in the hopes of catching any last parting comments.

Their teacher, long since accustomed to such behavior but no less annoyed by it than when he'd first started teaching, fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Is there anything I can help you with, ladies?" he asked finally to the three girls still clustered by the door, whispering and giggling and stealing furtive glances in his direction.

"N-no, Professor Baltor," said the boldest of them, cheeks flushing red along with her friends as they scurried out the door like they were being chased. "Sorry to bother you."

He sighed at their retreating figures, then shut the door with a wave of his hand. Alone at last, he sank down into his chair and kicked his legs up onto the desk, resting a spellbook in his lap that he had no intention of reading to give the illusion that he was busy.

New year, but the same old story. Sure, there were always those that were immune, but for the most part, like clockwork, he found himself with a group of girls that hung onto his every word for a reason that had nothing to do with interest in the subject matter on which he spoke. He didn't mind it _too_ much – he _was_ the only male faculty member in a school full of teenage girls, and he'd known what he was getting himself into, after all – but some days, he just didn't feel like dealing with it. And this was rapidly shaping up to be one of those days.

He tried not to encourage them. He interacted perfunctorily with the other teachers and had a closer sort of friendship with Ms. Griffin, but for the most part, he was a solitary creature. But that only made him an enigma; a puzzle wrapped up in a very pretty package that the Cloud Tower girls would have killed to be able to solve.

_Of course_, Baltor ruminated, lazily turning a page, _if any of them ever did learn the truth, I'd have to run again. And I do like it here, even with the squealing girls. So it's worth putting up with it, to have a place like this to hide._

"Knock knock." At the sound of that familiar sarcastic drawl, he closed his eyes, fighting the urge to groan. The clicking sound of high heels on the floor grew louder. "I know you're not asleep in there, so you can drop the act."

"What do you want, Icy?" he sighed, opening his eyes again to glare at his colleague.

The young woman pouted, placing her hands on the edge of the desk and leaning forward so that he got an eyeful of cleavage, pushed up in her skintight dark leather outfit. Hers was a more unusual kind of beauty, with a rail-thin body, long silvery-white hair pulled up in a high ponytail, and light blue eyes that she always covered with far too much eye makeup. He guessed she was appealing enough if you didn't know her, but there was no getting around her personality, and he'd known her for much too long now. Any appeal she might've had to him disappeared years ago, and though she had to know he wasn't interested, she never did stop trying to seduce him. Like it or not, she had become another constant in his life at Cloud Tower.

"The girls and I were going to go out tonight. Have a few drinks, check out the scene. Celebrate the start of another year." She licked her lips, walking around the side of the desk and perching on the edge near his chair. "Maybe we'll even get lucky."

Baltor fought back a shudder at the sparkle in her eye. "Sounds like you girls have it all planned out. What would you need me for?"

"Oh, but you never go out!" She laughed – a high, sharp sound like breaking glass – reaching over to finger the lapel of his long burgundy jacket. "Seriously, when was the last time you left the castle?"

"Another time, Icy," he insisted, batting away her long manicured fingernails. "I'm tired."

She frowned, then slid off the desk and started back towards the door without a word. Halfway there, though, she paused and turned around to face him again. "We're so close, Baltor. I can almost feel it. Can't you?"

His breath caught, and he had to fight to keep his face neutral. Finally, he managed to say, "Now darling, you know I'm not a part of that anymore."

She smiled, but it wasn't at all kind or reassuring. Her smile was dark and cold and quietly amused. It was the smile, Baltor thought, of someone who would watch you drown and not lift a finger to help. "Say whatever you want now, tough guy. When we find her, you'll change your mind. You know you will."

And as he watched her saunter out of the room, hips swaying like she knew a delicious secret, he couldn't help the sinking feeling in his stomach that told him she was right.

* * *

**Author's Note: Oh my God, ten reviews on a first chapter alone? And a prologue at that? You like me! You really, really like me! :D**

**Seriously, the amount of support I got on the prologue truly surprised me. ****So did I answer all of your burning questions with this one? Or did I just leave you with more? ;-)**

**Hate me if you want (just don't stop reading!), but this is sort of the structure - lots of questions with no answers until the appropriate time. Also, I finally sat down and did one of my famous chapter-by-chapter plot outlines, and we're in for the long haul with this baby; it's got plans to be much bigger than anything I've ever written before (length and content-wise).**

**Okay, all that out of the way now, I really am curious to see what y'all think of my set-up. I basically ripped up Ignio Straffi's backstory and pieced it all back together in a different way, and there is always the chance it'll blow up in my face. So please, let's keep going on this "massive flood of feedback" thing. I've always said it and it really is true: the more you guys review, the more motivated I am to keep working.**

**That's all for now, folks. Later!**

**- Authoress**


	3. First Night of the Rest of Your Life

"And here we have suite 12, which will be your home for the rest of the school year. As per your parents' request, you do have a single, but there are five other girls your age in the suite, and they're all very excited to meet you."

From the moment they'd first met, Bloom had had a feeling she was going to like Headmistress Faragonda. The kindly white-haired woman had a way of speaking that was somehow both formal enough to have pacified her parents had they been there and yet casual enough to put Bloom completely at ease. Though she'd gone on and on about the education quality and high levels of security, there was always a twinkle in her eye that made the princess of Sparx think she was going to like it here very much.

But she was still missing one very important thing: friends…

"Thank you so much, Headmistress." She paused in front of the door, hand hovering over the knob and bags floating inconspicuously behind her. "For everything, I mean. I have a feeling I'm going to love Alfea."

"I hope you do." The older woman beamed. "And just call me Ms F. All the older girls do."

A secret, tiny little thrill shot through her. Transferring in during the final year definitely had its awkwardness, but it was nice to _finally_ start to be treated like an adult. Her lips twisted into an almost silly-looking grin as she pushed down on the handle and stepped over the threshold.

And almost immediately found herself nearly knocked over back into the hallway. "You're finally here! It's so nice to meet you!"

"Stel, let the poor girl breathe," came another voice from somewhere in the depths of the room, lower and less bubbly than the first.

"It's no problem." Trying her best to hide her nervousness, Bloom smiled sweetly at the blond girl in front of her. "My name is Bloom. What's yours?"

"Princess Stella of Soloria, at your service." The blond dropped into an exaggeratedly goofy curtsy-type thing, and Bloom couldn't help but giggle.

"You just gonna forget about the rest of us?" Another girl, with dark hair twisted into two long pigtails, appeared in the doorway, her voice the one that had spoken before. "Hey, I'm Musa. Need some help with your stuff?"

"Um, sure." Bloom hovered self-consciously in the doorway for a moment, clutching one bag, before pulling the door closed behind her and walking into what looked like a living room.

Three more girls were sprawled out on the couch and armchairs that surrounded a small coffee table. Each was strikingly pretty in her own way: there was a sweet-faced brunette with delicate features and sun-kissed skin, a quirky-looking girl with bright magenta hair cut in a short asymmetrical bob, and a vibrant and energetic mocha-skinned girl with long flowing chocolate-colored curls. All three were engrossed in something – a book or, in the case of the pink-haired girl, some kind of technological gadget – but all three looked up when Bloom appeared in front of them.

"This is Flora, Tecna, and Layla," Musa said, setting down Bloom's stuff in front of another doorway across the room, which the redhead assumed led to what would be her room. "Girls, meet Bloom."

The pink-haired girl, who Bloom assumed was Tecna (it made the most sense), looked up from her gadget with interest. "You're the princess of Sparx, correct? I've been so looking forward to meeting you. Ever since I was a little girl, I've been utterly fascinated with your planet and its history… it's like something out of a children's story! Would you mind answering some questions for me?"

Caught off-guard, Bloom stuttered, "Um… I, uh… sure?"

"Tec, don't scare the poor girl," the sweet-faced girl admonished. "She's never been to a regular school before; I'm sure this is all very overwhelming for her." She turned to Bloom with a wide smile on her face. "Hello, sweetheart. My name is Flora, and I'm from Limphea. It's very nice to meet you."

"N-nice to meet you too."

"Is it true, then, what she said?" the dark-skinned girl – Layla, Bloom reminded herself – asked. "That you've never been to a regular school before?"

Bloom's cheeks burned, and she trained her gaze on the floor. "Y-yes."

"Well that's nothing to be ashamed of, sweetie!" Stella chirped, appearing from behind her and slinging her arm around Bloom's shoulders, forcing her head up. "The first thing you have to learn if you're going to be our friend is that there's no judgment here. Whatever you did before, it's all cool. And you're here now, which means it's up to us to teach you how to have some fun. Lucky for you, that happens to be an area of my personal expertise." Her brown eyes danced with mischief, that sent tingles down Bloom's spine. Oh yes, this was going to be _very_ different from Sparx.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Stel?" Musa asked. The blond nodded, and Musa smiled almost deviously. "Excellent."

"You guys, do you really think this is a good idea?" Flora interjected, concern etched into her pretty face. "Maybe we should start slow. Shopping, or a movie."

"Best way to get adjusted to anything is to dive in head-first," Layla said, patting Flora on the shoulder. "She'll be fine. We'll all be there, anyways. Unless you're chickening out at the last minute?" She pointedly arched an eyebrow at the lighter-skinned girl.

"No, I'm still in."

"In for what?" Bloom finally asked, feeling her palms start to sweat nervously. She didn't like the fact that these girls were capable of communicating like this, with her so out of the loop. It was just another painful reminder that they'd been friends for two years before she arrived and pushed her way into their little circle. _At least they're being really nice about letting me in_, she reminded herself. It could have been much worse.

"Do you like to dance, Bloom?" Musa asked.

The question was so unexpected that for a moment Bloom didn't process it. "Um… yes?" She did like music, and sometimes when she was alone in her room she'd dance by herself or with Kiko, but somehow she doubted that was what Musa had meant.

"Wonderful." Layla grinned unnervingly. "You see, we have this little tradition. Every year, we kick off the start of the semester in a major, massive way; something crazy, fun, and only for the five of us. Well, six now," she amended quickly, her cheeks coloring. "And this year, since it's our last year, we're upping the stakes even more."

"Layla, you're positively scaring the poor girl," Tecna chided.

"We're going clubbing," Musa said brightly and quickly, before the dark-skinned girl had a chance to answer back. "There's a great all-ages place in downtown Magix, so no need to worry about fake IDs or anything like that. Just a night to dress up, go out, and let loose before we're stuck on campus doing homework all the time. Have some fun. Enjoy being young and beautiful while we can."

"But if you think you'd feel at all uncomfortable, you do not have to come," Flora added. "Only if _you_ really want to."

"Thought that much was obvious, Flo," Musa muttered under her breath, shooting the other girl a dark look.

Bloom's head was spinning. On the one hand, it did sound like an overwhelming experience; definitely a far, far cry from Sparx and _anything_ she was used to. But on the other hand, though… wasn't that exactly what she'd wanted to do at Alfea? Break out of her comfort zone, learn to enjoy life like a normal teenage girl?

And she really did like these girls so far. Though they'd never come out and say it, she could tell that their expectation was that she would go. To do anything else would likely make the rest of the year at least a little bit awkward.

"Count me in!" she exclaimed, forcing a big smile onto her face that she wasn't quite sure she felt. There was excitement, yes, but also a large dose of nervousness. "That sounds like a lot of fun."

"Great!" Stella's smile could have illuminated a galaxy, and it sent tendrils of happiness through the redhead. "You'll have a good night, Bloom, I promise." Her smile abruptly faded as she looked up at a clock hanging on the far wall, replaced by a gasp of horror. "Oh!"

"What's wrong?" Bloom asked, instinctively reaching out to touch her new friend's arm. She flinched as she was knocked away – unintentionally – by the blond, who started to flail her arms wildly.

"_What's wrong_ is the time! I had no idea it was this late!" Long manicured fingernails dug into the side of Bloom's arm as Stella started to drag her across to what she assumed was the Solorian princess's room. "I only have so much time to get you looking perfect. Come on, we have to start _now_!"

"But… but…" she stuttered. "I don't think I have anything appropriate to wear." In fact, she knew she didn't; her mother's taste in clothes leaned heavily towards the old-fashioned, hoop-skirts-and-corsets type of dresses.

Stella stopped dead in her tracks and gave Bloom such an incredulous look that she wondered what she'd done wrong. "Well _of course_ you're not wearing your own clothes, darling! You'll borrow mine. I absolutely insist; I have more dresses than I know what to do with."

"It's true," Musa said in not the kindest tone, causing Stella to glare at her.

"No comments from the peanut gallery," she sniped at the dark-haired girl, before turning her attention back to Bloom. "Trust me, sweetie, makeovers are what I do best. A little powder, some lipstick, and I'll have you looking like a whole new girl; the best possible version of you."

"She does know what she's doing, I'll give her that much," Layla commented.

"Come on, we have to hurry!" Stella yanked on Bloom's arm again, and, head still spinning, the redhead allowed herself to be dragged away.

* * *

"Sit," Stella commanded imperiously, pointing towards her vanity table, with its mirror rimmed in spangled pink fur. The table itself was covered in glitter, pots of blush and powder, tubes of paint and liquid, and brushes of varying sizes, all scattered with no real organization to them. Bloom cautiously perched on the plush pink velvet cushioned chair and closed her eyes as the blond started brushing her hair.

"So what's Alfea like?" the redhead asked finally, after several minutes of sitting in silence.

"It's… nice," Stella said, sounding like she was struggling to come up with words. "I mean, it is a school, and we definitely have our share of hard classes and mean teachers, but it's also a really great place to spend three years of your life, all things considered. Just stay away from Ms Griselda and you'll be fine."

"Who's that?"

"Ms F's right-hand woman. She's super-strict and will slap you with detention or worse if she catches you with even one toe out of line. She's got it out for most of the five of us – except Flora, because it's just impossible to hate Flo. Look up," she instructed, and Bloom widened her eyes as the blond came at her with an eyeliner pen.

"Is this the first time you've ever done something like this?" Stella asked a moment later, dropping the eyeliner on the table and picking up a little jar of shadow. "Close again."

"Like what?" Bloom asked, doing as she was told.

"Going out with friends."

The princess of Sparx's cheeks burned. "Um…" She mumbled something under her breath, hoping Stella wouldn't call her out on it.

Of course, she had no such luck. "What did you say, sweetie? Speak up."

"I, um, never really had friends before," she admitted shyly, staring down at her lap.

"Stop that!" Stella admonished, yanking her head back up with a jolt. "How am I supposed to do your makeup if you're looking down?" She tapped a wide brush in some pink powder. "No friends?" she continued, as if the incident had never happened. "How did you _survive_?"

Bloom tensed, but the other girl's tone didn't seem judgmental, just curious. "My parents give new meaning to the term overprotective," she started slowly. "Before coming to Alfea, I'd never left Sparx, and I almost never got to even leave the palace unless we were all together doing some official royal thing. Without Kiko, I think I would have gone insane." Hearing his name, Kiko wiggled his ears and let out a squeak, and Stella giggled. "But though it all sounds crazy, I do understand that they just thought they were trying to protect me. After what happened when I was a baby…"

Stella inhaled sharply. "That's right. You were what, a couple months old when that happened?"

"Something like that." It felt strange, she thought, to be sharing such personal details about her life; but then again, she'd never been in a position to have someone to share with before. "So on some level I don't blame them, even if they did go overboard. They just don't want to lose me, like they lost my sister."

"Do you ever think about them? The Ancestresses," she clarified, to Bloom's blank look. "Whether their followers are still out there, just waiting to strike…?"

The redhead shivered. Somehow, what had started off as such a light and easy conversation had taken a decidedly darker turn, and she didn't think she liked it. She opened her eyes, still trying to figure out what to say… and a powder puff smacked her in the face, releasing a dense cloud of glitter. Bloom coughed and glared at Stella accusingly.

The other girl just laughed. "Don't look at me. Look at yourself."

All thoughts of their previous conversation leaving her head, Bloom got up and walked over to the full-length mirror, self-consciously yanking on the hem of her dress as she did. It was a jet black slip-type number with elaborately beaded straps and a lace hem, much tighter and shorter than anything she was used to, and she hadn't been able to help feeling awkward from the moment Stella had shoved it into her arms. But now, she almost didn't recognize herself in the glamorous figure staring back at her in the mirror.

The color brought out the paleness of her skin and the brightness of her hair, the cut highlighting her slender waist and long thin legs. Stella had done her hair in elaborate curls that spilled over her exposed shoulders, and the sensation of hair tickling her bare skin was unfamiliar and oddly pleasant. She was wearing more makeup than she'd ever worn in her life, but nothing was strange or unnatural about it; her cheekbones looked sharp and angular, her eyes deep-set and mysterious, a luminous blue.

She looked nothing like herself, but maybe that was a good thing, she decided. After all, wasn't that what she'd wanted from her experience at Alfea? To shake things up? _This is getting me off to a pretty good start, I'd say._

"So? Do you like it?" Stella's voice jolted her out of her thoughts. "Maybe some more glitter–"

"No more glitter," Bloom said hastily. "No, it's good. I like it."

"Great," Stella said, grabbing a bottle of perfume off the vanity table and spritzing her wrists. _At least my dress is more modest than Stella's_, Bloom thought thankfully, eyeing the blond's hot pink halter dress, which clung to her body like a second skin and was almost completely backless. But it did seem to suit her sense of style, and she looked perfectly comfortable in it. "Let's go."

"Is she ready?" Layla poked her head in the doorway, a vision in lime green, which popped dramatically against her dark glowing skin. Her eyes lit up when they landed on Bloom. "Did I tell you or did I tell you? This one might have her priorities mixed up sometimes, but does she ever know her way around a cosmetics counter."

The redhead giggled, as Stella glared at her friend. "Are the others ready?"

"We're just waiting on you, Stel," Musa said, dancing into the room. Her dress was a deep dark red, and her long hair had been tied up into a knot on the top of her head, exposing the graceful curve of her neck. Even now, just leaning against the wall, there was a sort of rhythmic energy to her; her hips swayed from side to side and her head followed, like she was dancing to music only she could hear. If she had been doing that, Bloom thought, she would have looked like a crazy person, but Musa just looked cool.

"Well, we're ready," Stella declared, picking up an impractically tiny purse that seemed to Bloom like it was nothing more than a fashion statement. "Let's go."

Flora and Tecna were waiting for them in the common area, also dressed to the nines – Flora was in shimmering silver, while Tecna wore dark purple. Bloom noted that their dresses, while still short and party-worthy, were somewhat more modest than the others', and for a moment she felt a pang of longing for something less revealing. Then she quickly brushed it away, remembering her promise to herself.

Looking around at the other girls in their party finery, it was hard to keep her blatant awe from showing. She felt like she'd stumbled upon a flock of exotic sparkling butterflies; something much too beautiful to properly exist.

_Fairies_, she corrected herself. _They're fairies. _We're_ fairies. I am one of them now._

_ And you can bet that I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can._

* * *

**Author's Note: No Baltor in this one, sorry, but the next one more than makes up for it... ;-)**

**And while we're on the topic, I know a couple of you have wondered how it is he can hide in Cloud Tower, especially since Ms. Griffin should know his secret. Well, I realized that this never actually gets fully addressed within the story, so here it is: in case it wasn't obvious from the prologue, Baltor's role in the attack on Sparx was much different from canon. Everything about the attack and the structure of it is different (since of course, Oritel and Miriam survived), and his part wasn't very well known. I pictured him being more of a secret weapon (hence why Ariana, who was second-in-command after the three Ancestresses, didn't know who he was) that didn't quite get used the way it was intended when things fell apart, so he was able to go into hiding without too much fear of being recognized. As for Ms Griffin, well remember her record isn't exactly spotless either - she was with the Ancestresses at one point before she had her change of heart and joined the Company of Light. ****She doesn't know everything about what he's done, but she knows enough to know that he needs cover, and she can't be hypocritical enough to refuse him with her own past. And they're sort of friends. We'll see more of his relationship with Ms Griffin later, and maybe then it'll make a little more sense.**

**Did that help? Sorry. I know I said this story is all about me being evil and withholding all the answers until the appropriate times, but I did realize that this is one question that doesn't really have an in-story answer, and some of you were smart enough to pick up on it.**

**Next chapter is the big one, of course; I'm sure most of you can already tell where this is going. And all I can say for anyone who's just dying to know what happens next is this: REVIEW! (Not that you all have a problem with that, actually, but I just felt the need to say it anyway.)**

**xoxo,**

**- Authoress**


	4. Sparks Fly

A wall of sound and light hit Bloom the moment she entered the club. Called Avalon, it was an enormous space with curving, dark silver walls that seemed to go on infinitely. Despite the size, it was tightly packed with people; young, beautiful, dancing close. There was no light but for the darting colored spotlights, flashing different colors over the faces of the dancers in the churning crowd one by one: hot red, bright pink, neon green, cold blue, burning violet. In some places, plush wrap-around seats hugged the edges of the walls, but for the most part, every square inch of space was devoted to dancing. A tall and skinny metal staircase in one corner spiraled up to a small platform lofted over the crowd and partially shielded from view by long strings of metallic beads, which she assumed was the VIP room. The DJ booth stood along the opposite wall, and music blasted from the speakers, pounding up through her feet, into her blood, vibrating her bones.

She had never heard anything like this in her life; never experienced _anything_ like this before. All of her expectations for what the night would be like had gone completely out the window the second they walked through the doors…. including the expectation that the other girls would be by her side the whole night.

It had started out that way, of course. They'd all entered the club together, and she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the way several heads turned to gawk. And for a few songs, they'd carved out some space amongst the whirling masses and danced as a group, Bloom taking her cues from Musa and Layla, who looked more than at home in this environment. With the others around her, it was actually kind of fun to just close her eyes and surrender to the music, letting her body move how it wanted without fear of being reprimanded for being 'unladylike'.

But then someone elbowed her from behind, and she opened her eyes to find herself alone in the middle of the crowded dance floor, none of the other girls anywhere in sight. Her nerves immediately settling back in, she'd found the fastest route out of there and into the nearest dark corner, where she felt more comfortable. And now, almost an hour later – or so she assumed, but it could have easily been more or less – she was still there, huddled in the corner by herself, observing but not participating.

They hadn't meant to desert her, she was sure. There were so many people here, it was all too easy to get separated from a group. One of them would find her soon, Bloom told herself, and until they did it was best to just stay in one place.

(_Excuses, excuses_, a little voice in the back of her head whispered, and she told it to shut up.)

She took a sip of her soda and scanned the crowd again, looking for a flash of anything familiar. Explosions of color and light burst like cherry bombs throughout the room, sparkling like fireworks, and every time one burst it rained down a glittering shimmer onto the dancing crowd below, somehow not staining anyone's clothes. As she watched, another one exploded right above the center of the dance floor, this one showering the clubgoers in a dazzling rain of metallic gold. Laughter bubbled up inside her chest unbidden, just at the fact that she was _here_, even on the sidelines, when two weeks ago she'd been stuck in her prison cell of a palace.

And that was when she saw him.

He was on the other side of the room, leaning against a wall in much the same way that she was. Except while she was sure that any onlooker would have instantly noticed her discomfort at being alone, he had no such issue, observing the goings-on with a sort of amused fascination. Though she tried to look away, reminding herself that it was rude to stare, her eyes just kept coming back to him.

While he wasn't handsome in the typical definition of the word, there was something about him that was undeniably attractive. His face was all sharp lines and hard angles that made it almost impossible to discern his age; he could have been anywhere from nineteen to thirty-five. He was tall and lean, with long reddish-blond hair that would have looked odd on any other man except for him. But it was his eyes that drew her in the most; they were the same bright gold as the firework that had just burst over the dance floor, and just as captivating.

Bloom's breath caught in her throat as those exotic eyes locked onto hers. A flush spreading across her cheeks at being caught staring, she managed to pull her gaze away, but not even a minute later, she stole a look back out of curiosity… to see him moving through the crowd with a cat-like grace, course unwavering. Heading towards her.

Her heart beat wildly against her chest. The girl who had let her parents shelter her behind gilded walls all her life would have been utterly mortified, and run off to hide in the bathroom for the rest of the night.

But she wasn't that girl anymore, and by the Great Dragon, she never wanted to be her again.

Almost of their own accord, her feet starting moving, making their way towards the gold-eyed man. She saw a spark of interest light in his eyes at her advance, which had turned to amusement by the time they were standing face-to-face in the middle of the dance floor, a mischievous smile playing across his lips.

"You know, it's not polite to stare," he said, and she thought she would melt at the sound of his voice, as smooth and rich as chocolate. All around them, the music played on and the masses continued to dance, but she could hear him as clearly and perfectly as if they were in their own little bubble, separate from the rest of the world.

His eyes traveled slowly up her legs, hips, waist, chest, eventually coming to rest on her face, which grew hot under his unrelenting stare. Bloom sent a silent thank-you to Stella for the makeover, grateful to be looking like she did and not like her normal, plain and boring self. Tonight, she wanted to be someone else – someone sexy, daring, and worthy of attracting this gorgeous stranger's interest. "How can I help myself, with a view like this?" Shocked at her own boldness, she prayed that her comment sounded cool and flirtatious like she'd imagined in her head, and not just stupid.

Thankfully, he laughed, extending a hand towards her. "Dance with me, beautiful girl?"

A spark of electricity shot through her veins as her fingertips met his, and she gasped as her senses seemed to sharpen, like the world had been blurry before but now come into laser-sharp focus. The beat of the music was even more insistent, shooting through her ears and into her veins, spinning her around, making her almost dizzy with sensation. Unsteady in her heels, she sort of fell against him, leaning into his chest and breathing in the scent of leather, spices, and smoke.

From the look in his eyes, she could tell that he had felt it too, although it didn't seem to have affected him nearly as much. "There's plenty of time for that, beautiful," he said teasingly, as his hands slid down the curve of her body to rest on her hips. Her skin burned pleasantly at his touch, and she tipped her head backwards, letting out a soft sigh of contentment.

One song seemed to blend into the next, a never-ending melody with a constant, pulsing beat like a separate entity. She could feel her hair sticking to the back of her neck, the perfect curls Stella had spent so long on coming undone, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Nor did it bother her that she still hadn't heard from the other girls, didn't know if they were even still at the club. A nuclear bomb could have gone off outside of Avalon and she wouldn't have even noticed unless the music stopped. All that merited her attention was the man pressed up against her.

The music pouring through the speakers shifted to something slower and sexier, and her skin tingled as he pulled her even closer, so she could feel every part of his body pressing against her own. It was deceptive – he looked so skinny, but up close she could feel the powerful build of his fine abdominal muscles, sense the strength coiled under her fingertips.

_I don't even know his name,_ she realized with a jolt, as his arms wrapped around her waist, hands resting lightly at the small of her back; her own slid around his neck, mimicking what so many other couples around them were doing. For a moment, the thought scared her, but fear quickly turned to exhilaration as she realized that this was exactly the kind of experience she'd wanted to have in Magix. And so far, it had been even better than she could have imagined.

"You're a good dancer." Startled from her thoughts, Bloom looked back up at him (even in her Stella-provided high heels, she still came up a few inches short).

"So are you."

"Is this your first time here?" She nodded. "I thought so. I would have remembered seeing you before." Her cheeks flushed.

"D-do you come here often?"

"Sometimes. Though if a friend of mine had her way, it would be a more regular thing."

A hot spark of jealousy flared through her. "Female friend?" She didn't know why she cared; it wasn't like she had any claim to him. This was supposed to be just one night of escape, no strings attached. But nevertheless, the idea of him with some other girl stung. A lot.

He chuckled, and she could feel his chest rumble with laughter, the vibrations seeming to move through her own body as well, making her shiver. "No cause for worry, beautiful girl. She is just a friend. Much of the time I hesitate to even call her that." To what must have been the obvious confusion in her eyes, he added, "It's… complicated."

She nodded like she understood, when really she just wanted to get off the topic of conversation. As she studied his angularly handsome face, she was struck again by a wave of powerful self-doubt: _Why me? Out of every other girl in the club, why did he choose me?_

"What are you thinking about, beautiful?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, dropping her head so she wouldn't be looking him directly in the eyes.

"That's not true," he countered. Her skin prickled at the loss of his touch as he pulled one hand away from her back to tilt her chin upwards.

She sighed, and decided to tell him half the truth. "I was just thinking about how surreal it feels to be here, when two weeks ago I was in a virtual prison cell. To go from that to this… it's more than a little overwhelming."

"I'm sensing there's a story there, but I won't push if you don't want to tell me." She nodded gratefully; her family was hardly a subject she wanted to get into right now. "Are you enjoying yourself tonight?"

Was it her imagination, or was he getting closer? No, what little space there was between them was definitely shrinking, and she felt her face grow hot at his sudden proximity. "Yes," she squeaked, her heart beating so rapidly she imagined he could feel it against his own chest.

He arched one eyebrow. "Do I make you nervous?" he asked, in that deep velvety bass that made her toes curl.

Bloom swallowed hard and shook her head, trying to regain a modicum of composure. "N-no."

He smiled, gold eyes sparkling wickedly. "Liar."

And then he kissed her.

* * *

_Well, this was unexpected._

Baltor had come to Avalon for one purpose only: to prove Icy wrong. As annoying as she was, she had said one thing the other day that sadly rang of truth – he didn't leave the Cloud Tower castle very often. He might have a good reason for keeping a low profile, but that was no excuse to be a complete hermit. So he'd sucked up his pride and ventured out, but without giving his annoyingly persistent colleague the satisfaction of knowing he'd taken her advice. She'd only want to come along, and that was where he drew the line.

Spending some time at the club, though, had reminded him just why he didn't let Icy drag him out on her near-weekly club jaunts. The whole scene, the music and sweat and bodies pressed up against each other, was just not his thing. Even after a couple glasses of his favorite whiskey (the downside of being a teacher; alcohol was highly frowned upon in a place full of underage girls), it was only tolerable for so long. In fact, he'd been about to leave when he saw her.

It wasn't that she was beautiful, although of course she was. The club was full of pretty girls, so invariably similar that they all started to blur together in his eyes, indistinguishable from one another to the point where they became nothing more than background noise, of no real importance, passing just beyond his vision. But this girl, she was real. Avalon was a place of escapism, a place to forget oneself in the music and the person dancing next to you, but she was very much in her own body, and quite terrified, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. Something about her teased at the back of his mind, like a voice heard in a dream that you know comes from the waking world, familiar for an indescribable reason.

She was different, and very much intriguing for it. Intriguing enough to make him abandon any thoughts of leaving and make his way through the crowds towards her.

Up close, she was just as shy as she'd appeared from afar, although she tried to mask it with what he could easily spot as false confidence. It made her no less alluring, and though he knew these were dangerous thoughts to have about a girl who couldn't be any older than seventeen, he'd still led her onto the dance floor, reveling in the exquisite torture of having her so close. She was more intoxicating than anything he'd ever known… and he still didn't even know her name.

By the time she'd loosened up enough to be able to hold some semblance of a conversation (the closest thing they could get in such an environment), Baltor was beginning to wonder if the bartender had put something in his drink. He'd desired women before, certainly, and satisifed that desire; he had always thought of it as hunger, a need for a sort of fuel that the body wanted, that would then disappear once sated. Never had it felt anything like this, like a clean fire that burned away thought, that made his hands thrum with nervous energy. Until he thought he might die if he didn't get to kiss her.

So he did.

She gasped as their lips met, eyelids fluttering closed as her small body trembled against him, and he realized with what little she'd revealed about herself that this was probably her first kiss. And that thought was almost enough to make him pull back, because this beautiful and delicate creature deserved a better memory than this. But she tasted so sweet, like strawberries and honey; her thin fingers were in his hair, on the back of his neck, tangling gently, and he knew he couldn't have pulled away if it were the only thing that would save his life.

They slowly parted, her hands remaining in his hair, and he rested his forehead against hers, needing to keep some kind of contact. Her blue eyes were wide and dark with desire, her chest heaving as she sucked air into her lungs, looking very much like his arms around her were the only thing keeping her upright. Despite knowing better, it gave his ego a little boost, to see just how much his kiss had affected her.

"I don't… I mean, I've never… I don't want you to think that I…" He blinked a couple times, tuning back into reality to see her fumbling to explain herself, obviously embarrassed by what she was trying to say.

"I understand, beautiful."

"Bloom." The word tumbled out quickly, almost breathlessly, and then she hesitated, unsure, before repeating more slowly, "My name is Bloom."

An atypical name, and yet somehow it seemed to suit her more perfectly than anything else ever could. He imagined her as a rose, delicate petals unfurling towards the sun, basking in the light… _And there I go again, sounding like a sentimental old fool. What is going _on_ with me?_ "Bloom," he said, slowly, tasting the weight of the word on his tongue. A lock of hair fell into her face, in front of her eyes, and without thinking twice he reached up to push it back. "Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." She blushed, and the sight of that pink staining her cheeks was so alluring that he couldn't resist pulling her in for another kiss. Once again, he had the feeling that he could easily do this forever, drown in her sweetness and the softness of her skin.

He wanted to see her again. There was no way he could leave the club tonight and be satisfied to leave her behind with it. But was that really such a good idea? She was all innocence and light, a beautiful flower as yet untainted by the harsh cruelties of the world; without a doubt, she deserved better than him.

And yet, he knew that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to keep himself away from her.

"I should go." He heard the words, but didn't want to believe their truth value. "My friends… they must be worried by now. I have to go."

Her lips still bore the imprint of his kisses, a flush of pink against her pale skin, and it knotted his stomach._ By the Great Dragon,_ he thought,_ I am so…_

"Parting is such sweet sorrow." He raised her hand and brought it to his lips, watching her jump slightly as he kissed it, like a gentleman. "So I say good-night till it be morrow."

"I've read that play," she said, with eyes bright. "They both die in the end."

He shook his head slowly as he returned her hand to her side, keeping his eyes locked onto hers. "I would never let anything happen to you, beautiful girl."

"I really have to go," she repeated, but her tone sounded like she wanted exactly the opposite.

"Then you should go."

She opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to ask a question, but then shook her head and closed it without a word. Her eyelids fluttered closed before she turned and disappeared into the dancing crowds, and he watched her go until she was indistinguishable from the rest of them.

The sweet scent of honey and vanilla lingered; the scent of her. _I am so…_

_I don't deserve something as wonderful as her. Not after what I've done._

_It's been seventeen years. You've been on the straight and narrow, kept your nose clean. Don't you think it's time to start to forgive yourself?_

Seventeen years…

The gears in his mind started turning, thoughts heading in a direction he didn't like. Seventeen years. Bloom was about seventeen. Red-haired girl, sheltered, innocent. Electricity when they touched. That connection… like nothing he'd ever felt before…

_I am so screwed._

* * *

**Author's Note: Long AN here folks, so bear with me.**

**So first of all, did this chapter live up to all your wicked imaginations? I know this was by far one of my favorite things to write of all time.**

**A question I know somebody's going to ask: Why do they still have their connection if in this world they're not the only two survivors of Sparx? Well, I never really bought that everybody on Sparx had Dragon Fire, because there's just no way that every single person from Sparx (ie: who had Dragon Fire) was on-planet the day of the attack. People travel, or go to school, or stay with relatives… there's a million reasons why Bloom might not've truly been the only survivor in canon (I assumed these people were devastated, but went on to live their lives, maybe coming back after Lost Kingdom). So in my story, the only people that have it are the royal family, and then Baltor. Because there's such a small number with it, the connection thing can still work the same way. I'd like to think Bloom's parents used that to keep an eye on her when she was growing up. ;-)**

**There are so many songs I had in mind for when they're dancing. Like, I seriously have an entire playlist. For those curious, several are as follows: Domino by Jessie J; Till the World Ends by Britney Spears; Dance Again by Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull; Where Have You Been by Rihanna; and of course, the titular song, the song that inspired this whole story – If We Ever Meet Again by Timbaland and Katy Perry. Enjoy!**

**I don't want to make any promises about chapter four, because we're heading into the home stretch before the end of summer (where did the time go? June feels like yesterday), which means school is definitely in sight (yuck). I still can't believe how much I've accomplished for this in just a single month - it's insane. But my schedule this year is going to be crazy, and I don't know when I'll be able to update. Rest assured, though, that I absolutely _love_ writing this, and therefore am not going to forget about it any time soon. I just won't be quite as prolific with the updates. ;-)**

**Catch you on the flip side!**

**- Authoress**


	5. Enchanted

"Come on, Bloom! We have to go, like, now!"

"I'm coming!" Bloom called, frantically dumping another pile of clothes onto the floor. "Give me a second!"

Her Alfea dorm room, which she'd found so cute and cozy her first day at the school, was rapidly proving to be much too small for the princess of Sparx, who was used to the acres of space in her suite at the palace. Though she'd only been living in it for about two weeks now, the room already looked lived-in to perfection; clothes strewn everywhere, desk a mess of textbooks and notebooks lacking any real organization, and a perpetually un-made bed. And the mess just kept increasing, because another thing she'd always taken for granted was having maids to clean up after her.

"Bloom, we're going to be late," Stella exclaimed, striding into the room just as the redhead looked up from her disaster zone of a desk. "The others are already there. What's taking so long?"

"I can't find my cell phone," she admitted, cheeks flushing in embarassment. Having a phone – the newest, all-inclusive model from Zenith, of course; nothing less would do – was a new concept for the young princess, who'd never had need of one before coming to Alfea. As such, she was near-constantly misplacing it, a trait that might have gotten on her new friends' nerves. But her utter cluelessness at living independently was, in the other girls' eyes, funny enough to be endearing, and so they put up with a lot, something for which Bloom was very thankful. She hadn't realized just how isolated her parents had kept her, how much she had to learn to do for herself now that had never been a problem before.

The blond's head swiveled, and then she sighed as her eyes landed on the phone, half-hidden under a crumpled camisole on the nightstand. She retrieved it and handed it to Bloom, saying, "You really need to start looking in the obvious places first, before you make such a mess of your room. And seriously, this place is a dump. Remind me to show you a cleaning spell or two when we get back."

"Okay." She nodded, tucking the phone into her purse and lowering her head so her bright red cheeks weren't as visible. _Why did I never think of using magic to clean up?_

Certainly, she was using a lot more magic now than she ever had. Her personal tutor had done a reasonably adequate job giving her a foundation in the basics of spell-casting, but anything more advanced was completely out of her league. She was miles behind her classmates in almost every class, and had been assigned ridiculous amounts of extra reading in addition to the regular homework load (which was much greater than she was used to) in hopes that she might catch up soon. The reading actually didn't bother Bloom that much – with nothing else better to do, she'd spent a lot of her free time in the palace library – but she wasn't entirely sure how it was supposed to fix her problem, which was that she lacked actual practice doing magic. (Forget about combat or defensive magic; that class was a total wash for Bloom, who'd never even managed to transform before.) But she said nothing, instead just keeping her head down and trying to do all the work assigned to her, hoping that somehow something would just click and she'd manage to become less of a complete failure as a fairy.

Thinking about the massive amounts of homework sitting on her desk, Bloom tentatively asked, "Do I really have to go with you guys? I mean, I have a ton of reading to catch up on, and I was really hoping to get in some Transfiguration practice too…"

Stella's eyes widened. "Not go? Not possible! Bloom, this whole thing is for _your_ benefit. The guys all want to meet _you_. And besides, it would be a damn shame to waste such a cute outfit." She gestured to the sleeveless pale blue sundress the redhead had on, another loaner from the Solorian princess's seemingly bottomless closet.

"What's this about Bloom not wanting to go?" Musa poked her head in through the door. Her hair was done up in its usual two pigtails, and she wore a simple red tank top with jeans; a complete 180 from Stella's ruffly tiered skirt, wedge-heeled sandals, iron-straight hair and immaculate makeup. Those two couldn't have been more opposite, Bloom thought, and yet they had some kind of bond, deeper than just the regular friendship all five girls shared. Maybe it was the mischievous, fun-loving spirit they both had in common.

"Musa, please talk to her. We have to leave _no_w; we're already running so late." Stella pulled out her phone to check the time, then sighed dramatically and loudly. "Come _on_! I miss my snookums."

_Snookums?_ Bloom wondered.

Musa rolled her eyes. "You can survive waiting an extra minute, Stel. Doesn't absence make the heart grow fonder or some crap like that?" Stella opened her mouth to protest, but the dark-haired girl had already turned her attention towards Bloom. "But what's wrong, B? Don't you trust us to show you a good time? You had fun a couple weeks ago, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I just, I really do have a lot of homework," she stammered weakly, already sensing her excuses weren't going to fly with the tough-as-nails fairy of music.

She wasn't wrong. "Ever since classes started, all you ever seem to do is study. Enough already. Even Tecna understands the importance of having a social life." A spark of recognition lit up Musa's eyes, and her smile widened in a way that made Bloom slightly uncomfortable. "Oh, I get it," she said, eyes dancing. "You just don't want to meet the guys, because you're still thinking about your mystery man."

Bloom's cheeks burned, and she ducked her head as Musa crowed triumphantly. "Aha! I'm right, aren't I?" She didn't wait for confirmation before continuing, "B, you have to stop obsessing. Trust me, when you meet a guy like that it's _always_ a one-night thing. You didn't even get his name, did you?" Eyes downcast, Bloom nodded. "Just proving my point further. So you had a good time that night, but now it's over. There are too many guys in this world to waste your time thinking about one who will never think about you."

_But I don't want to stop thinking about him…_

She'd told her new friends the bare minimum about the guy from the club – she had to explain her disappearance that night, after all – but most of the details, she'd kept to herself. How his strong body felt pressed up against her own. That electric feeling whenever they touched. The way she felt like melting into a puddle when he kissed her…

Maybe it was just her own inexperience, but she had felt a connection that night. And from the way he'd talked to her, the way he'd acted, she had thought he'd felt it too. But it was impossible to ignore the facts: two weeks had since passed, and she hadn't heard a peep from him. (_You didn't give him a lot to go off of if he did want to find you_, an optimistic little voice in the back of her mind reminded her – although that didn't exactly help her case.)

"I was so proud of you for pulling that off like you did, but now you have to let it go already." She blinked, realizing Musa had continued talking even though she'd spaced out, and quickly tried to look like she had been listening. "If you want to obsess over a guy, at least go for one who's worth it – like Sky, who you'll only meet if you put down the homework and come out with us."

"Sky is just about perfect," Stella chimed in. "But don't take my word for it; see for yourself, because we are _going_!" She grabbed both of Bloom's hands and started to unceremoniously drag her towards the door.

"Alright, alright," she acquiesed, not fighting the blond's death grip.

Musa grinned and patted her on the back. "Mystery Man is about to be history."

Bloom was thankful her friend's back was to her, that Musa didn't see her flinch at her words. _But what if I don't want him to be…?_

* * *

"You made it!" Layla's eyes lit up as the three girls entered the restaurant, and immediately she leaped up from her seat at the far end of a long table tucked in the back corner. Her conversation partner – a man who shared the fairy of waves' darker skin tone, making Bloom think he was likely from Tides as well, with dark hair plaited into braids that he somehow pulled off – watched her move, smiling at her with an unmistakable affection in his eyes.

Musa elbowed her, motioning that the redhead should lean in closer to hear what she had to say. "That's Nabu," she imparted, following Bloom's gaze to Layla's seatmate. "He comes from nobility on Tides, and he met Layla when their parents tried to arrange a marriage between them. As you can imagine, that didn't exactly go over well, with either of them–" Bloom swallowed a snort at the thought of anyone trying to force stubborn, strong-willed Layla into an arranged marriage "–but in a roundabout turn of events, they ended up falling for each other anyways. He's a wizard, so he doesn't go to Red Fountain, but he's here in Magix a lot because that's where Layla is." Musa made a face. "For two people who wanted nothing to do with each other at first, they're kind of sickening. Of course, no one does sickening better than…"

"Snookums!" Stella cried, nearly knocking over a chair in her haste to cross the room and fling herself into the arms of a tall, muscular guy with brown hair and a healthy beach-boy tan. He looked a bit startled at first, but then quickly pulled her up into his arms until they were face to face (he was at least a head taller than she was, even in her heels) and kissed her deeply. The kiss went on and on, to the point where Bloom felt embarrassed to still be watching.

"Gross, huh? But that's Stella and Brandon for you," Musa added knowingly, averting her eyes as well. "Okay, quick crash course. Timmy's over there with Tecna; of course, the two nerdiest people in Magix coupled up. They are cute, even if most of the time the rest of us have no clue what they're talking about." The guy sitting next to Tecna had the same paler complexion marking him out as a brains-over-brawn type (as if the glasses weren't enough), and messy light brown hair that seemed to constantly fall into his eyes no matter how many times he – or Tecna – tried to push it back. "Then Flora's with Helia – he's Saladin's grandson, so he gets a pass on the whole pacifist thing at a military academy." Professor Saladin, Bloom remembered, was the Red Fountain headmaster, although the only thing his grandson seemed to share was a propensity towards long hair on guys. He and Flora were bent over intently staring at what looked like a notebook, their heads leaning against each other. Like Timmy for Tecna, he seemed the perfect male counterpart to the sweetest and most generous of her new friends.

Overwhelmed by all the new information to take in, Bloom took a deep breath, praying she'd remember at least enough to keep from making some hugely embarrassing social gaffe. As she scanned the table, trying desperately to match names to faces, she noticed a guy sitting down by the other end that she was almost positive Musa hadn't mentioned. She was pretty sure she'd remember someone who could manage to look hostile even just sitting down at a restaurant. His spiky hair was a strange magenta color, and his arm muscles, on full display in a sleeveless muscle shirt, were easily the largest of any of the guys at the table. He also, she noticed after watching him for a moment, kept stealing glances their way, despite trying to look like he wasn't. "Who's that?" she asked.

Following the redhead's gaze, Musa rolled her eyes and, with a pronounced sigh, declared, "Oh, and that's _Riven_." Something in the way she said his name confirmed Bloom's guess that there was something going on between the two of them, although clearly whatever it was wasn't as rock-solid as the other girls' relationships seemed to be. Personally, Bloom wondered how it would be at all possible to have any kind of relationship with someone as sullen and angry-looking as Riven. Add in Musa's own unpredictable temper and stubborn nature… and maybe she knew why they weren't as stable as the others.

But there was definitely affection there; after making sure Bloom was settled in one of the two remaining empty chairs, the first thing the dark-haired girl did was slide in next to Riven and give him a peck on the cheek. The spiky-haired boy turned his head at the last second and her lips landed on his own instead, but Musa didn't pull away, instead reaching up to run her fingers through his hair. Much to Bloom's surprise, the kiss just kept going, almost approaching Stella-and-Brandon levels of PDA before Riven finally pulled away. "What was that for?" Musa asked, sounding breathless.

Riven smirked, although his entire stance seemed softened. "I missed you, that's all."

"Admitting to feeling emotions? Who are you and what have you done with my Riven?" the fairy of music teased, her eyes sparkling as she cuddled up against his side, his arm sliding around her shoulders. Bloom smiled slightly.

Turning his gaze away from Musa, Riven's eyes fell on her and narrowed. "What are you staring at?" he asked, in an aggressive tone that seemed much more in line with her first impression of him. She tensed.

"Riv, play nice," Musa said, sliding out from under his arm and poking him in the ribs. Her voice had the same teasing lilt from before, but with an edge of steel like a warning. Riven scowled but said nothing. "Hey, where's Sky?" she called down the table to Brandon, whose lap Stella was currently occupying despite there being an empty chair right in between him and Layla.

"He went to the bathroom," Brandon said. "But is this the famous Bloom? I've heard so much about you." He reached out his hand all the way down the table for her to shake, and despite the awkwardness of the situation, Bloom smiled and delicately shook his hand.

Brandon's gesture seemed to prompt the others to remember that yes, there was a new person in the group, and they should stop doing their own things and introduce themselves. Bloom sat through another round of introductions – with significantly less commentary than Musa's had had – and tried to look interested, while she was really wondering when a waiter would show up, because her stomach was starting to growl something fierce. Just when she was beginning to fantasize about the candy bar she'd left on her nightstand back at Alfea, a person slid into the one remaining empty chair… that just so happened to be next to her.

"And the prodigal son finally returns," Riven said mockingly. "What took so long, your highness? Fall in the toilet?"

"Riven," Musa scolded, although her lips were twitching as she tried not to laugh.

The newcomer took it all in stride. "If I had, my hair would still look better than yours." Riven made a face and Musa consoled him with a kiss. "You must be Bloom," the newcomer said, turning to the princess of Sparx. "My name is Sky."

"_Prince_ Sky of Eraklyon," Riven added, "soon to be king." Sky glared at him, and Riven pulled an innocent face. "What? It's not like it isn't true."

"Right, because I always want my title to speak for me before I open my mouth."

Riven was shaking his head. "You make it way too easy for me, buddy," he laughed.

Thankfully for Bloom (in more ways than one), a waiter finally appeared, and most of the rest of the table's attention was commandeered by the ordering of food. Realizing that in all the excitement she'd never even looked at the menu, she was about to do so when she felt gentle fingers on her wrist.

"I wouldn't bother with that; the portions are massive here, and the others are going to order enough food for a small army. Trust me on that." Sky's eyes twinkled kindly at her. Objectively, there was no denying that he was handsome: his blond hair was messy and slightly long for a guy (without being as long as Helia's or Nabu's), and she could tell even though he was sitting down that he was tall, with the same lean muscle tone that the other guys had.

But his eyes were blue and not gold, and she swallowed a sigh when she realized that that meant no matter how cute he might be, she just wasn't interested.

"Well, I don't always like putting my choices in someone else's hands," she replied, not realizing how that might sound until the words had left her mouth.

He smiled at her. "But you trust your friends, don't you?" It took her a minute to realize that they were no longer talking about food.

She struggled to keep a straight face, and decided that a change of topic was the best choice. "I'm sure you already know by now, but I'm Princess Bloom of Sparx."

"The princess who doesn't like the limelight. You realize you're a dying breed in this universe, right?" He laughed, making the transition so seamlessly that she breathed an inward sigh of relief. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, princess." Instead of shaking the hand she offered, like Brandon had done, he slowly kissed it, eyes nervously looking to her as if for approval.

It was entirely the wrong thing to do if he had been hoping to woo her, although he couldn't have possibly known that. _Mystery Man wasn't nervous. Mystery Man always knew the right thing to say or do. He was almost too perfect to be real…_

Bloom swallowed hard and forced herself to stare into Sky's blue eyes. Who was she to be thinking of some random guy from a club when she had a cute, sweet, funny, _prince_ interested in her? This was exactly the kind of advantageous match her mother would have wanted her to make by attending Alfea, and royal politics aside, Sky did seem like a really nice guy. He didn't deserve to be set up with a girl who couldn't stop thinking about someone else she barely knew.

"So what's Red Fountain like?" she asked, trying to find a topic that would allow Sky to ramble on for a while and give her time to make herself try to like him. But as his eyes lit up and he started expounding on the various amenities of the school, Bloom already had a sinking feeling that she would never be able to forget about her Mystery Man.

And as long as he was in her head, there was no room for anyone else.

* * *

Stella sidled up next to her as they walked through the gates of Alfea, having left the guys on the shuttle to go back to Red Fountain. "Soooooo?" she asked, batting her eyelashes suggestively. "What did you think of _Sky_?"

Dinner had stretched out over the course of several hours, everyone talking and laughing and joking amiably to the point where other patrons had started to stare at the table full of rowdy teenagers. Attempting to keep from having to make too much awkward conversation with Sky, Bloom had eaten quite a bit of the plentiful and very delicious food, and was paying for it now, as the dress she'd borrowed from model-thin Stella was starting to feel more than a little bit uncomfortable. In short, it had been a long night, and she was beyond ready to crawl into bed and pass out, piles of homework be damned.

The _last_ thing she felt like doing was getting roped into a long discussion with Stella about one of her three favorite topics, boys (the other two being shopping and makeovers, of course). So, for obvious reasons then, the truth was an absolute non-option. "I liked him, Stel," she said honestly. _Just not the way you all want me to,_ she added in her head.

If possible, Stella's smile grew even wider. "I just knew you would," she beamed, eyes sparkling. "You two are going to be the cutest royal couple in the entire universe. I totally want a matchmaker's credit in the toast at your wedding! And of course I'll be the godmother for your beautiful, _beautiful_ babies…" She floated off to her room as if on a cloud of love vapors.

"Before you ask, yes, she is always like that. You get used to it." Musa appeared at Bloom's side, the perfectly timed foil to Stella's over-the-top romanticism. "But honestly, did you have a good time tonight?"

"Of course," she replied, thankful that this particular question had been worded in a way that she didn't have to feel like she was lying. She had had fun, after all.

Musa smiled. "Good. And I know I don't know him that well, but I think Sky really liked you too," she confided.

Bloom bit her tongue. "That's great." Faking a yawn (that wasn't entirely fake), she said, "Well, I'm beat. I think I'll call it a night now. You guys have kept me out late two weeks running," she joked, hoping a bit of humor would lighten the semi-intense love discussion. "I need some time to recover."

"All part of the plan to help make you a normal teenage girl," Musa rebounded, but there was laughter in her eyes, and tingles of warmth danced over Bloom's skin. _This_ was what she had hoped to get out of Alfea – laughter and friendship with other girls her age, girls who cared about _her_ and not her title.

Yes, overall her first few weeks at Alfea had been a resounding success, she decided as she headed towards the door to her room. The curriculum was challenging but not overly so, and the girls had far exceeded her expectations for friendship. Then there was the Sky issue to deal with; somehow, she'd ended up accepting a date with him for later in the week. While Bloom's first instinct was just to cancel – she'd come to Alfea to do what _she_ wanted to do, and she didn't really want to spend any more time with him, no matter how nice he was – the part of her that was her mother's daughter wouldn't let her be so rude. _I'll go, and then just kindly break it to him that I don't want to be anything more than friends_, she decided.

As for Mystery Man… She frowned. It looked like she'd have to think of him as an experience in her new life, and nothing more. His disappearance had hurt, but really, in the grand scheme of things, Musa was right – she didn't know anything about him. So why was she letting this affect her so much?

_I'll find someone. I know I will. After all, I've barely even started looking._

Happy with that train of thought, Bloom quickly slipped into her pajamas, carefully hanging up Stella's dress to return tomorrow; the Solorian princess was sure to throw a tantrum like no other if anything happened to her precious clothes. After running through her nighttime routine in the marvelous ensuite bathroom, she was about to pull back the covers when something caught her eye on the pillow – a piece of white paper, folded over, with her name scrawled across the front in unfamiliar, elegant cursive.

Her interest immediately peaked, she sat down on the side of her bed and picked up the letter, noting the good quality of the paper and how the words looked like they had been written in ink. It looked a lot like, she thought, a letter her parents might've received from another noble or important dignitary; all that was missing was the fancy wax seal, like the dragon that decorated her parents' outgoing mail.

But there had been no envelope. And if it had been sent via the regular mail channels, she would've gotten it at breakfast like the other girls did…

Unfolding the paper, she saw again the same looping script, written in a steady, practiced hand. The note was relatively short, so despite her immense curiosity about the identity of the sender, she started at the top.

_Dear Bloom,_

_ If you're reading this, then it means that my letter has made its way into the correct hands. Forgive me the delay, but while a rose by any other name may still smell as sweet, I doubt there is any other blossom quite like you. I wanted to make absolutely sure I had the right girl before putting pen to paper. And perhaps, give myself time to change my mind about what I am about to do._

_ I want to make one thing very clear from the start: I have never done this before. You are the first female that has ever held my interest for longer than a single night. I know this does not cast me in a terribly flattering light, but I believe it's important that you not make any decisions blindly. And forgive me, if the words to express myself do not come easily. In this one area perhaps we are on equal footing._

_ There are so many reasons why I should have just let you leave that night and never looked back. But I cannot stop thinking about you – your beauty, your charm, your wit. I would very much like to see you again. And so I have taken the risk of writing this, hoping that my instincts are correct and you have not forgotten me yet, that I might have a chance with the girl who shines brighter than the sun._

_ But now, the choice is yours._

_ There is a spell on this paper; turn it over and write your response, and it will find its way back to me. (If the answer is yes, I promise I will explain the need for such covert methods in person.) And whatever you choose, I promise to respect your choice. If the answer is no, I swear I won't bother you again._

_ As I look at what I've written, I'm laughing to myself. I have never been a sentimental man. But this is what you do to me, sweet Bloom. You are truly one of a kind._

_Confidently yours,_

_Baltor_

She read it a second time, and then a third, before the meaning of the words actually started to sink in.

If there had been any doubt in her mind, the "rose by any other name" confirmed it. This was her Mystery Man. Musa was wrong; he hadn't forgotten about her after all. And now she even had a name to go with the face that had haunted her dreams.

_Baltor_.

It was perfect, different and unique, just like him. A giddy smile spread across her face unbidden, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from giggling, not wanting to call any of the other girls in.

Bloom curled up in bed and closed her eyes, unsure how she was ever going to get to sleep when her blood felt like it had turned to champagne bubbles in her veins, fizzing and sparkling. _They were wrong, it wasn't just one night, he didn't disappear…_ She fell asleep clutching the note to her chest, dreaming of Baltor and his golden eyes.

* * *

**Author's Note: Longer chapter, I know, and I'm sure some people are annoyed about the lack of actual Baltor. Well, to that I say 'tough'. I'm going for the slow build with this one, really taking the time to explore the ins and outs of this new AU world and all the people in it. And I had a lot of fun playing with the relationships and trying to figure out how this group would've turned out if they hadn't been saving the world for two years. So definitely expect some more of that in later chapters, although I promise the Sparxshipping action you crave is coming too.**

**In case anyone cares, seating arrangements for the dinner party are as follow: they have a long table in the back with half booth seating, five on each leg and then a person at each end. Layla has the end seat at the far left, with Nabu next to her in the booth seating, followed by Tecna and Timmy and then Musa and Riven. Stella and Brandon are next to Layla and they have chairs (well, Stella's sitting on Brandon's lap, but still), then it's Flora and Helia, and finally Bloom, with Sky on the other end seat. I actually took the time to work this out, because who was sitting where (and therefore was going to be talking to who) made a difference as far as the conversations that ended up in the story.**

**Also, a little bit of my head-canon: why does he say "if you are reading this, my letter has made it into the correct hands"? He charmed the paper so it would look blank to anyone but her (using the Dragon Fire). She doesn't know that (if she thought about it, she'd start to realize what's going on here, or at least ask), but I know someone will probably ask, so here's my little, completely unncessary explanation. (Yes, I do think entirely too much about insignificant little details for this story. Whatever made you say that?)**

**And, in case you hadn't figured it out by the wait time on this update, I am back in school now. :P Which means that updates are definitely going to be a lot more spaced out than they were for the first few chapters, although I'll try my best never to make you wait longer than a month. (Not going to promise anything, because you all know how life gets sometimes.)**

**Okay, enough of my senseless ramblings. Please don't forget to drop me a line - it's so easy now! The box is already set up down below, and all you have to do is write! Pretty please?**

**Catch you on the flip side!**

**- Authoress**


	6. Start of Something Good

The bell in the door frame jingled to announce her arrival as Bloom stepped over the threshold into the café. The scents of roasted coffee and baked goods assaulted her senses, and she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. Slowly, she wove her way through the room to the counter, where she ordered an iced mocha (she'd never actually had coffee before coming to Alfea, but Stella was dependent on the stuff practically to the point of needing an intravenous drip, and a little of that had rubbed off on the princess of Sparx) and a chocolate-chip muffin.

The café was comfortably full but not busy, occupied by people sprawled out lazily on couches or armchairs, reading or tapping away at laptops, coffee cups at their sides. In no time at all, her drink was ready, and she picked it and her pastry up and headed purposefully towards the back corner, taking a seat at a table tucked into an almost hidden little alcove.

The other occupant of the table straightened up, revealing himself from the shadows, eyes catching the late-afternoon sunlight like the edges of gold coins. "You came." Mystery Man (_Baltor, his name is Baltor, I know his name, he's not a mystery anymore_, Bloom reminded herself) smiled. "To be honest, I wasn't one hundred percent sure you would."

"I said that I would, didn't I? And I always keep my word. It's very unbecoming to say things one doesn't mean." The redhead took a long sip of her drink, hoping the cool liquid would somehow counteract her warming cheeks. _Where do I come up with things like that? And why only ever around him?_

Baltor raised an eyebrow at her, wrapping his hands around his own cup but not lifting it off the table. "Did your mother teach you that?" Bloom nodded. "Now what would she have to say about your little display at the club the other night? Wouldn't that be much more… _unbecoming_ of a young lady?" She ducked her head, cheeks flushing bright red, as he smirked, finally taking a sip of his drink.

After taking a couple deep breaths, she finally forced herself to look up and meet his gaze, staring him down head-on. "As much fun as this back-and-forth is, I believe you owe me something." She paused for a moment, but when he said nothing, added, "I didn't ask questions; I just came, like you asked. But you promised me answers. And if I keep my promises, I think it's only fair to ask the same of you."

He set his coffee down, and she found herself staring at his fingers. None of the Red Fountain guys had hands that large. They were not teenager hands. They were man hands. The kind of hands you couldn't help imagining running through your hair and down your back and over your skin…

Bloom shivered as memories of that night at Avalon threatened to overwhelm her. _Get a grip, girl!_ she mentally screamed at herself, sucking down another gulp of her iced coffee.

Baltor sighed, an exhausting sigh, like the weight of the world rested upon his shoulders. "Before I begin, I want to reiterate that this is new territory for me. I've lived a very solitary existence, for reasons too personal to get into now, and I've never sought this kind of… connection, with another person before. So I ask that you forgive me the way I speak, if the words to explain myself don't come naturally."

"Alright." For the first time, Bloom started to wonder if she'd done the right thing, coming here alone without telling anyone where she was going or who she was meeting. It was becoming more and more clear that despite having a name to put to the face, there was so much more about her dance partner that she didn't know – and maybe not all of it was good. But then he began to speak again, and the thought was gone from her head as quickly as it had appeared.

"I suppose the best way to do this is to explain why I live in Magix. You're a student, am I right? Alfea, I'd assume, from the looks of you." She nodded, breaking off a piece of her muffin. "I am a professor at Cloud Tower."

Her hand froze halfway between the table and her mouth, the piece of muffin slipping out of her fingers and falling onto her lap. "Crap," she said, ducking her head to scoop up the crumbly bits that broke off all over her jeans.

When the last crumb had been swept off her lap, she looked up to see him watching her, what looked like amusement dancing in those wonderfully fascinating golden eyes. "Are you always this articulate, or do I just bring it out in you?"

"I'm sorry," she hastily apologized, only wondering a second too late what she was apologizing for. "I just, I mean I, you know…"

"If there's something you want to ask me, Bloom, then just ask. I will tell you almost anything you want to know." His gaze was suddenly serious, the laughter in his eyes disappearing as if wiped clean off a slate, and the depth of solemnity in his expression sent a chill down her spine unbidden. "I promise."

Despite his assurances, it still took another minute (and a fortifying gulp of coffee) for her to gather the courage to ask the main question on her mind. "How… how old are you?"

Instead of answering, he raised an eyebrow, and despite everything she was grateful to see his expression lighten. "How old do you think I am?" She blushed, stuttering and stumbling, until he finally took pity on her. "It doesn't matter, beautiful." To that, she gave him an incredulous look.

"You said you would tell me anything. You _promised_," she repeated, feeling a bit like a child throwing a temper tantrum to get what they wanted but not backing down regardless.

He sighed, eyelids fluttering closed as if in deep thought, before he slowly opened them again. "I said I would tell you _almost_ anything, but there are some things that perhaps should not be divulged under such circumstances. Mine is an unusual story; complicated, confusing, and somethng I prefer not to think about for the majority of the time. But suffice to say, I do not age like most people do. Therefore, it really is a nonissue."

Bloom was intrigued (who wouldn't be?) but kept her mouth shut. She'd already sensed that Baltor was the kind of person for whom it was virtually impossible to make talk if he didn't want to talk about something. So she nodded, then turned her attention to her muffin, carefully picking out the chocolate chips one by one to keep herself busy.

She could feel him watching her, his stare burning her skin, but didn't acknowledge it at all, diligently picking apart her muffin as if it were the most important thing in the world. Only when she started to make a little pyramid out of the chocolate chips did he finally speak up.

"You know, if you didn't want the chocolate chips, you could have ordered something else." She was forced to look up as he reached across the table and took one of the pieces of chocolate in his fingers, gold eyes sparkling with barely concealed amusement. The corners of his lips turned up into a little smile as he slowly placed the chocolate in his mouth, as if he knew just how closely her eyes were watching his every movement, and what it was doing to her. "But somehow I don't think that's the case."

"I…um…" she stuttered.

"You really have no other questions for me? I find that quite hard to believe." He plucked another chocolate chip and casually tossed it into his mouth, leaning back slightly in his chair with his fingers interlocked behind his head. There was something about the way he moved, Bloom thought, that made it almost impossible for her to look away; that same elegant, almost feline grace she'd observed at the club went beyond just dancing, it appeared. "With the one notable exception, I am an open book. Ask me anything. Anything at all."

She picked up her coffee for another fortifying sip, only to discover that there was nothing left but ice cubes. _That's not a good sign,_ she thought, but pushed on anyways. "Okay, here's a question for you, then. What in the realms is someone as smart and interesting and, well, handsome as you doing with me?"

Baltor's eyebrows shot up, the first time she'd ever seen his faultless composure slip. It didn't last long, though, before that same lazy humor was back in his eyes and his smile, as he chuckled lowly. "Beautiful Bloom, you give yourself far too little credit." She could feel her cheeks warming, though thankfully it didn't feel like a full-on tomato face. "Then again, you wouldn't be _you_ if not for your charming modesty. And it truly is the combination of everything you are that makes you so utterly irresistable to me." He reached across the table to take her hand in his.

Tingles of electricity sparked through her veins when their skin met, and she bit back a grin. How many times had she laid in bed thinking of that night, of how even just a simple brush of fingertips from him had made her entire body sing? Part of her had wondered if that had just been a side effect of all the stimulation in the club, but here was the proof that it wasn't. And then he started tracing small circles into the skin of the back of her hand, and she thought she would melt into a puddle right there in her seat.

"There are so many reasons why I should let you go, let you find someone more suited to you." Bloom blinked, trying to make herself focus; her brain felt like it was drifting pleasantly on a cloud of cotton candy. For a moment, Sky's face floated in front of her mind, and she inwardly frowned, thankful when it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "But I am selfish in that I would like very much to continue seeing you."

_Focus!_ she yelled at herself, forcing her mind to snap out of the intoxicating haze that came with Baltor's touch. "How is it selfish if that's what I want too?" she said finally, letting a bit of Stella's trademark sugar spill into her voice as she leaned closer.

Something flashed through his eyes that looked a lot like surprise. "Are you… Do you know what you're agreeing to?" He looked ever so slightly off-balance, which was a new thing; she'd never seen him look anything less than completely confident for more than a couple seconds.

"Are you trying to talk me out of this?" Bloom had no idea where the high, teasing lilt to her voice came from, nor how she found the confidence to lift his hand off the table and interlock their fingers. His palm was very warm against hers, and she found that strangely reassuring. "I realize what this means. And I can make my own decisions."

"No, I'm not sure you do." He pulled his hand away, and the loss of his warmth stung. Frowning, she placed both hands in her lap, staring down at him across the table. "Even if I don't work at Alfea, there's still the issue of me being a teacher. It would still be disastrous for both of us if anyone were to know and use it against us, and more harmful to you than me, I fear. You would have to keep this a secret from everyone else in your life; we would always meet like this, and…" He sighed. "I just want you to understand. Dating me would mean you could never be completely normal."

She shivered unbidden at the seriousness in his voice. But then she thought of a life spent locked up in a gilded cage, treated like a baby to be coddled and protected, sheltered from the rest of the world.

_Normal stopped being an option for me a _long_ time ago._

And that night at Avalon, this man had made her feel more alive than she'd ever felt in all her seventeen years combined. There was no way she was about to let that slip through her fingers like so much sand through an hourglass. She'd lost too much time already.

"I understand completely. And I know that I'd rather give this a shot with you than date any other guy in the universe with whom I could have a more 'normal' relationship." She made air quotes around the word _normal_, showing her disdain.

Bloom hesitated, unsure if she wanted to keep going, to explain what had so strengthened her conviction that this was what she wanted. The other girls hadn't treated her differently for being a princess, but then again, about half of the students at Alfea were some form of royalty or nobility. And she kind of liked that he knew nothing about her background and had still singled her out anyways, decided she was beautiful and interesting and special for reasons that had nothing to do with something she'd had no control over. She was finally being treated like a _person_, not the Princess of Sparx, and it was better than she could've hoped for.

"In my humble opinion, 'normal' is highly overrated," she finished instead.

He smiled, a real smile, and the way it seemed to transform his entire face pushed away the momentary icky feeling that came from the thought of having to lie to her new friends. Even if there was a very good reason, she didn't like how it went against everything she'd been raised to believe about truth and honesty and honor. But when she looked at Baltor, every other thought left her head completely. This was worth it.

There was a scraping sound against the floor as he pushed back his chair and stood up, offering her his hand like an old-fashioned gentleman might have. "I'm afraid I have to be somewhere soon, so this must be goodbye for now, beautiful." Her cheeks went pink, like they did every time he used that nickname; with her unruly bright-colored hair and too-pale skin, she still had a hard time thinking of herself as beautiful.

She took his hand, letting out a soft gasp of surprise as he pulled her flush against him. His other hand had found its way up to her temple, fingers gently threading through her hair, and she could feel her heart beating faster. "But before I leave you again," he continued, his voice lowered to an octave she suspected she could only hear from her proximity, "there's something you forgot the other night." Bloom opened her mouth, but she didn't have the time to squeak out _What's that?_ before his lips were descending onto hers.

She shut her eyes tightly, knowing from experience that otherwise it would become uncomfortably close to sensory overload. There was a lot about kissing she'd always wondered about, but no amount of so-called research could have prepared her for the real thing. It truly was something you had to just learn by experience.

She'd learned a lot in just that one night, like why kisses in movies were filmed the way they were, with the camera endlessly circling, circling; the ground was unsteady under her feet, and she leaned into him for support. He fit against her like a puzzle piece, like their bodies had been made for each other; his mouth was warm and soft, and he tasted like bitter coffee and peppermint. The tingly, electric feeling spread out through the rest of her body, making her feel impossibly light, like her bones had turned to helium balloons and she might float away any second. Only Baltor was keeping her on the ground.

After a long moment, the two pulled a little apart, Bloom's eyes still closed. Her head was spinning, dizzy with sensation, and she could feel his warm breath against her face. She slowly opened her eyes to see him grinning down at her, more than a hint of amusement hidden just behind his eyes.

"Promise I won't forget that next time," she managed to say, the words coming out breathless.

Yeah. _So_ worth it.

* * *

"Well what have we here?"

His reflexes were still like lightning, but instinctively Baltor knew he could never be fast enough. Though her words sounded like a question, her tone was anything but genuinely curious. Which meant she'd seen all she needed to see to put him in a very tight spot.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath, he turned around to look her in the eye. Acid-sharp fear surged through his veins, but his face was a calm, placid mask as he asked guilelessly, "What are you talking about, Darcy?"

The brunette's eyes narrowed behind her square-frame eyeglasses, which were tinted yellow and always worn so low on the bridge of her nose that they couldn't possibly do anything for her eyesight. Darcy was a lot of things – stubborn, fickle, manipulative, a man-eater – but she wasn't nearly as concerned with knowing everything the way Icy was. That she was the one to have found him and not the white-haired witch was only a small comfort, though, because if Darcy knew something, Icy was certain to find out about it before long. Secrets were like currency to Icy, and everyone who knew her feared getting on her bad side.

She chuckled, taking a few steps forward and leaning over until she was more or less pressed up against him. At this distance, the scent of her amber perfume was overpowering, and he fought the urge to gag. "What do you want, Darcy?" he said, making no attempt to disguise the steel in his voice.

"What I just don't understand is why you'd feel you had to hide it from us," she said, speaking as if continuing an ongoing conversation. She flashed him a wolflike smile, her gold-brown eyes glittering suggestively, but it was easy to disregard her; flirting was like breathing to Darcy. Sure enough, she kept going without pause, her voice slipping into a familiar insinuation-laden timbre that sent a shiver down his spine. "I didn't think the four of us kept secrets from each other."

"Who's keeping secrets?" Icy appeared in the doorway, her silvery ponytail swinging between her shoulder blades. Behind her, trademark cloud of frizzy blue-black hair just barely visible, was Stormy, the last of their little trio.

Years ago, some students had started calling them 'The Trix' (as in, "I've got class with a Trix next period"; the name had stuck to this day among the Cloud Tower girls), like they were one entity with three heads. Privately, he agreed that perhaps it wasn't so far out of the question – very rarely did you see one of them without the others in tow.

And as difficult and annoying as they each were separately, they were a thousand times worse together.

As Icy and Stormy moved out of the doorway and into the computer lab, Baltor fervently wished for a student to walk in, for another person as a buffer between himself and the three witches. But of course, on a Saturday evening, there was no one – most girls were out in Magix for the night, and anyone antisocial enough to stay in would be in their dorm room, using a personal computer; something that he cursed himself for being too stubborn to give in and buy, because if he had, this situation would not be happening.

"Let's see what Baltor was looking up – and trying to hide." Darcy's sing-song tone confused him for a moment, which was all the time she needed to reach over and click a few buttons, bringing up the screen he'd fought so hard to hide the second he'd heard her voice. Another click and she'd somehow managed to project it onto the wall, magnifying the image for all to see in big, bright, incriminating color.

_The rulers of Sparx speak out for the first time since the brutal attack that devastated their planet. "This unprecedented tragedy will not define us for eternity," says King Oritel. "The lives that were lost will never be forgotten, but we refuse to let misguided tyrants destroy the centuries of knowledge and tradition. Sparx will come back from this, stronger than before. We will rebuild a new world from the ashes, one worthy of the princess who will inherit it some day…"_

"Now isn't this curious, ladies?" Her words were dagger-sharp, but no matter how intimidating she could be when she wanted to, Icy was no Belladona. Still, with all the thoughts racing through his head, it was a struggle to keep his expression blank. "Just a week ago, Baltor, didn't you tell me you were through with this? What were your words again…" She paused for dramatic effect, cocking her head to one side and widening her ice-blue eyes, like she really had to think. "Oh, that's right. '_You know I'm not a part of that anymore'_?" Her smile was that of a kid who lit the wings of butterflies and watched them burn and die as they tried to fly away. "Whatever could have ever changed your mind?"

"Does it really matter?" Stormy butted in, her typical blunt manner not leaving anything to be disguised. Baltor had never been more grateful for her lack of tact, as Icy tore her piercing gaze away from him to glare at her frizzy-haired friend, who just shrugged. "If he's with us for real at last, why bother asking why? Especially when we're so close, we can use all the help we can get."

"She does have a point," Darcy said offhandedly, boredly examining one of her long fake nails. Her attention span was very minimal for anything not directly concerning herself, something for which he had never been more thankful. "We've got bigger things to worry about now. Who cares why Blondie's finally made the right choice?"

It was interesting to watch, he thought, as Icy struggled to come up with a reply that wouldn't completely ruin the delicately balanced dynamic. Though they might be a three-headed monster, there was no doubt about who was in charge – the head head, if you will. The catch, of course, was that their power over others came from appearing as a completely united front. For the first time, Baltor started to entertain the idea that he might get out of this unscathed.

"Alright," she said at last, the two-on-one finally overwhelming her. "But he's been too quiet over there. I want to hear you say it, Baltor, before I'll believe this." The other two nodded, and they all trained their eyes on him.

Knowing that what he said next could mean the difference between their relent or heightened suspicion, he chose his words carefully. "The last few days, I've had a change of heart. I want to be a part of what you're doing. I want my revenge."

Darcy's eyes blinked open, shooting Icy an almost imperceptible signal; as he'd suspected, she'd used her mental powers as a lie detector. _Lucky for me, I learned from the best._ "Took your sweet time figuring things out," the white-haired witch cooed, "but you got there eventually." Her lips curled up at the edges into a mockery of a grin, exposing her teeth.

"I don't suppose you'd tell us what _caused_ this miraculous change of heart…?" To the empty silence, Darcy just nodded, straightening up from her pose against the doorway. "Didn't think so. Oh well. Come on, S, if we don't leave now we're going to be late, and then Nancy will be with some Alfea bitch. I _refuse_ to let anyone else touch my nails." Her slinky hips and Stormy's frizzy puffball disappeared down the hall, but Icy lingered, leaning against the nearest table with an exaggerated nonchalance.

Almost immediately after they'd gone, she revealed her true purpose for staying behind. "Those two might not care why you've suddenly changed your mind, but I do. We both know you'd be a valuable asset, but if you're even _thinking_ of trying to doublecross us, then forget it. I have no tolerance for backstabbers."

"I don't want conflict, Isa," he said, watching her flinch slightly at the shortened form of her given name, which he knew she didn't like. "If I didn't actually want to be doing this, why would I be bothering? You know I'm not like you girls, with your addiction to drama."

She frowned, taking a few steps forward until she was close enough to run her nails along his cheek. Now it was his turn not to flinch; they were cold as ice. "Just don't forget who's in charge around here."

"I wouldn't _dream_ of it." An annoyed-sounding noise came from low in her throat, but then mercifully, she turned on her heel and headed for the door.

"I knew you couldn't stay away," she said abruptly, spinning around in the doorway, her light blue eyes catching onto his and holding his stare. There was something in them that made him want to look away, but he didn't, knowing Icy would only see it as a sign of weakness. "This is what you were made to do, after all."

A thousand angry retorts were on the tip of his tongue, but he held them back. When she was finally gone, he slumped down in his chair, energy drained and utterly exhuasted. _What in the realms did I just do?_ he wondered despondently.

_What I had to._

* * *

**Author's Note: Oh my God, I am _so sorry_. Really, I just... there is no excuse for why this took so long. Well, there are several, in fact - but they are excuses. As in, flimsy half-reasons that wouldn't stand up to a piece of cardboard. There is no reason why it should ever take me this long to update, and it kills me that I can't promise I'll never do it again - because as this proved, my life is crazy, and it's only October. The worst is still a long way to come. But for what it's worth, I'm super sorry.**

**Part of the reason for the delay was just that this chapter was a tricky one; I'm still not entirely convinced I like the way it turned out, but eventually it came to the point where I was just re-reading endlessly hoping a magic solution would just pop into my head, and I was like "Enough of this crap already." Also, that second half... ugh, remind me never to write a scene with all three of the Trix together again, because it is SO FREAKING HARD! (Because just about every other sentence of theirs has to be double entendres, and do you have any freaking idea how hard that is to write? Harder even than it sounds.) Except wait... I can't escape that. Oops! Mini spoiler alert (not really).**

**Well, that's all for now. If anyone's still out there reading this (and not totally mad at me for making you wait so long), please drop me a line or two and tell me you're still following this. It would really make my day.**

**Until next time (whenever that may be),**

**- Authoress**


	7. Catch My Breath

"Hey Bloom! Wait up!"

The redhead paused at the sound of Flora's voice, turning around to see her friend race up to her side, her cheeks flushed pink to match her short skirt. "You sure left class in a hurry," she said, sounding slightly out of breath. "Got somewhere to be?"

Now it was Bloom's turn to blush. "Um… yeah, actually." She hugged her books closer to her chest, casting her gaze down to the floor.

Flora elbowed her. "Details, girlie!"

"It's nothing…" After a bit more prodding from the fairy of nature, she finally admitted, "When we all went out for dinner last week, Sky asked me out for coffee. _But_ it doesn't mean anything," she rushed to add. "I still just want to see where this goes, before getting ahead of myself or anything."

The golden-haired girl rolled her eyes. "I get that you're new at this, and I totally understand, but sweetheart–" she pulled Bloom close, lowering her voice like she was imparting an enormous secret "–you don't have _anything_ to worry about with that boy. I saw the way he couldn't take his eyes off of you the other night; he is _smitten_. And he's so gorgeous too."

"Flora! What would Helia say?" Bloom giggled, trying to ignore the little pangs of unease springing to life in her stomach.

The other girl's eyes danced mischeviously. "I have a boyfriend, not a blindfold. I'm allowed to admire the scenery. And I'm just stating what's plainly obvious. Sky's a looker; there's no denying it."

_Baltor's cuter._ Bloom had to literally bite her tongue to keep from vocalizing her thoughts, hating that she had to do that. Only a few days into keeping the secret, and she already felt like she wanted to burst. Obviously, she'd way overestimated her own capacity to do so.

She looked up to see that they had made it back to the suite, her feet having carried her there without her noticing. _Score: I'm finally learning my way around this place_, she thought, turning the knob and slipping inside.

Flora's face was literally glowing, and she wasn't even the one going on the date. Bloom had been very successful at tuning out her chatter after the "he's a looker" comment, and continued to do so as she deposited her books on a nearby table and then collapsed onto one of the common room couches, utterly exhausted. Despite the crazy amounts of catch-up work she'd been doing what felt like nonstop, she was still behind in almost all of her classes. Sometimes, at her lowest points, she entertained the idea that maybe it was too late for her to become a full-fledged fairy, that her parents' sheltering her had somehow irreparably stunted the growth of her powers.

The sweet tones of her friend's voice were suddenly replaced by silence, and Bloom opened one eye to see Flora peering down at her concernedly. "You alright, sweetie?" she asked.

"I'm fine," she replied automatically, but after a second, relented under the heat of Flora's stare. "No, actually, I'm not," she admitted. "I just… I don't know what to do. I've been working harder than I've ever worked in my life and it's still just not _good enough_. I'm so far behind all of you guys, and sometimes I think I'll never be able to catch up… It just feels so hopeless."

"Oh, honey." Before she knew it, Flora was plopping down onto the couch next to her, sliding an arm around her shoulders for support. "You're not hopeless. You've been doing so well for the amount of catch-up you have to do. And don't forget, there are five other girls right here for you if you ever need any help at all. All you have to do is ask us." Her green eyes narrowed slightly, and Bloom felt her shoulders shrink in a little. Alright, she had been apprehensive about asking for help – it was just slightly humiliating, she felt, having to admit that she didn't know how to do something the others had probably mastered in their freshman year.

"I know. And I'm sorry; I promise I'll start being better about that."

Flora gave her another hug. "Now cheer up. This is _so_ not an appropriate thing to be thinking about pre-date. In fact–" she glanced up at the clock "what time are you supposed to meet him?"

"Um, I think he said four?" She dug her cell phone out of her back pocket and quickly brought up Sky's text to confirm. "Yeah, four."

Flora gasped. "Well, then we have got no time to lose!" Springing to her feet, she took hold of the redhead's hands and started pulling. "I'm sorry to go all Stella on you, but that is just not a date-worthy outfit." She gestured to the faded blue T-shirt and capri jeans Bloom currently wore, wrinkling her nose slightly. "I'm no Stel, but I think I know a thing or two."

Bloom laughed. "That's definitely a good thing." She allowed herself to be dragged into her bedroom to pick out a new outfit, resolving to leave all thoughts of her abysmal performance behind and focus on her newly discovered social life for the afternoon.

_Who knows? Maybe this won't be as bad as I think it's going to be._

* * *

The date wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be.

It was worse.

In Sky's defense, it was nothing specifically against him. He was exactly like she'd remembered him from the other night: exceedingly well-mannered, smart, charming, funny, and yes, from a purely objective standpoint, very cute. But as she'd surmised two minutes into their first meeting, there was just no spark – at least not on her end anyway.

And to make things worse, Sky had chosen the exact same coffee shop that had been the background of her first real date with Baltor. As if she hadn't had a hard enough time focusing on Sky, all she could think about was the sexy Cloud Tower professor, whatever he was to her now (was it jumping the gun to call him her boyfriend? Did labels like that even work with their secretive relationship?). Her lips curled up into a grin as she thought about their teasing banter, electrifying touches; that breath-stealing, soul-searing kiss…

"Bloom?" Sky snapped his fingers in front of her face, and she quickly shook her head, clearing away the thoughts. Even if she had only agreed to the date out of pity, it still felt vaguely wrong to be thinking about one guy while out with another. "Are you alright?"

Swallowing the last of her iced latte, the redhead gave what she hoped was a convincing smile. "Yeah, totally. Sorry, I just… have a lot on my mind lately, with school and all."

The Eraklyon prince nodded understandingly. "I hear you. Our professors are being so hard on us lately; it's like they haven't gotten the message that we still have a full year's worth of work to do before we're graduate-level."

"Mmm-hmm." Sky started in on a story about his dragon-taming class that ended with Timmy's hair getting singed, but as usual, Bloom's attention started to wane after the first minute._ How do you tell a guy that you don't want to date him? I wish I'd asked one of the others… but if I even mentioned it, they'd have probably gone into a tailspin, and it's not like I can tell them why…_

"Bloom?" This time there was a definite pointed edge to his voice. "You haven't heard a word I just said, have you?" Her cheeks burned, and then to her surprise, he sighed dejectedly. "I'm sorry if I'm boring you. I guess I'm a lot worse at this whole dating thing than I thought."

It took every ounce of her self-control to keep her eyes from popping out of her head. _He_ was apologizing to _her_ for bad first-date etiquette? Bloom bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"I don't know how much Stella told you, but about two years ago, I was engaged to a girl from Isis." She leaned forward slightly as he continued, actually interested in his story for once. "Princess Diaspro was her name, and she was a very lovely girl, but just not for me. Unfortunately, it took me quite a while to realize this, and when I finally did, well…" He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, a faint scarlet creeping into his cheeks. "Needless to say, I didn't exactly go about ending it in the best of ways. And since then, I haven't tried dating at all… until you."

In a move that surprised herself, Bloom reached out and placed her hand over Sky's, resting on the table. He looked up, startled, then smiled. "Hey, you're looking at a girl who spent the first seventeen years of her life confined to a palace. I don't exactly know much about this whole 'dating' thing either."

"But it's different for you. I…" He looked away. "I didn't handle things well with Diaspro. I knew within the first couple times of meeting her that I didn't have feelings for her that way, but I didn't know how to say anything about it without causing an international incident. Our engagement was also, after all, sort of political, with the intended joining of Isis and Eraklyon. So I let it go on for far too long, led her into believing we could have a life together… and then when I finally broke things off, it was just a giant mess." He sighed. "And so now, I'm just petrified of making another mistake. I know I just met you, but I really care about you, Bloom." His words sent a stab of pain into her chest, like someone had grabbed her heart and squeezed. "And I'd do anything to make sure I don't screw this up too." His face turned bright red as he added, "…which I probably just did now, spilling all this to you. Goddamn it, I'm an idiot."

Bloom chuckled, and the sound of her laughter seemed to snap Sky out of his self-hatred. "I think it's sweet," she said. "And you haven't turned me off." _Not with that story, at least,_ she added in her mind.

"Really?" There was such hope in his eyes that it was actually painful. _He's a really good guy_, she realized with a sinking heart. _The kind of guy that would make some other girl really, really happy. I'm just not her._

_ But how do I tell him that _now_?_

So she did the only thing she could do. "Really," she lied, quickly swallowing the last of her coffee in an attempt to drown out the bitter taste in her mouth. Glancing up at the clock, she added, "And I hate to do this, but I really should get back to school soon; I've got a massive pile of homework waiting for me."

"Of course." There seemed to be an extra spring in Sky's step as he got to his feet and came around to help her up, like a gentleman. He nervously fiddled with his fingers as he asked tentatively, "Can I… see you again sometime soon?"

Bloom bit her lip. "I think the girls were planning a group movie night this weekend…"

"I mean, just you. Without your friends and the other guys. Not that they're not great, of course, I just…"

She couldn't help giggle at his obvious anxiety. Standing in front of her now, he was certainly a far cry from her first impression, and she had to admit that it kind of put her more at ease around him. It was kind of exciting, realizing that she was in the power position here, even if this whole situation was ten different kinds of messed-up and awkward. "You can text me sometime next week," she said sweetly, "but let's just see where this goes. I don't really want to rush into anything right away," she continued, parroting almost exactly what she'd said to Flora a few hours earlier.

She'd meant her response as a noncomittal kind of 'not yes, not no', but by the look on Sky's face, it was obvious he'd taken it as a near-definite yes. Emboldened, he took a step closer, reaching down to pick up her left hand and interlock his fingers with hers. "Sounds good to me," he said in a low voice, the space between their faces rapidly disappearing as he leaned down to touch his lips to hers.

Bloom squeezed her eyes shut, her fingers curling up into her palms in tight little balls. It wasn't like she hadn't anticipated that he might try to kiss her, but actually inhabiting that moment was much different from simply imagining what it might be like. Though Sky wasn't an awful kisser. _He's just not Baltor_.

Her stomach did a couple of somersaults, and she had to force herself to count to a respectable number in her mind before pulling away. She didn't miss the happily dazed look in his eyes when he opened them, and it pierced a hole in her stomach.

"I'll see you, then," she forced herself to say lightly, shouldering her bag and walking out of the café at a normal pace, the hole in her stomach growing larger with every step. _I'm going to have to do this again and again,_ she realized, tasting the familiar bitter tang of guilt in the back of her throat. _Unless I want to sneak around all the time, I need an alibi. And where am I ever going to find a better one?_

She still couldn't make herself regret her decision to take a chance on Baltor, but for the first time, Bloom started to wonder if maybe Alfea was changing her in ways that weren't all for the better.

* * *

**Author's Note: This one's on the shorter side, I know, and probably disappointing to some of you due to its tragic lack of a certain gold-eyed CT professor... To both claims, here's what I say: get used to it. The next couple chapters don't have a ton of him, and will probably be on the shorter, less action-y side for a while. On the plus side, though, this means I'm able to update more quickly(!), so just remember that there are trade-offs to everything. And the downtime is necessary to lay the foundation for whenever everything goes to hell. ;-)**

**So... yeah. That's about it. It's been a long night, and an even longer weekend (school is just kicking my butt right now), so I think I'm just gonna say goodnight. Please don't forget to review; all my lovely reviewers from the beginning have slowly started to taper off...**

**Ciao!**

**- Authoress**


	8. Nobody Said it was Easy

"Oh my God. _Look_ at that sale! I've never seen such a good sale there in my _life_! Please, please, _please_ can we stop?"

Stella's eyes were puppy-dog large, her hands clasped in front of her like a little kid begging for a piece of candy. Bloom stifled her giggle, though Musa and Layla didn't. "Come on, Stel, we're already running late," Musa said, slinging her arm around the blonde's shoulders and dragging her away from the shop window. "Don't you want to see Brandon?"

The Solorian princess's expression perked, then fell. "But… sale…" She reached her arms out towards the storefront, her eyes pleading even as the distance between her and the store grew. This time, Bloom didn't bother trying to hide her laughter, joining with the other girls'.

"I can't wait to see this movie," Tecna gushed, as they turned a corner. "Timmy and I have been talking for a week about the special effects technology. I'm so excited to actually get to see it."

"Are you sure it's not just _Timmy_ you're so excited to see?" Layla teased, elbowing the pink-haired girl suggestively. Tecna blushed furiously, ducking her head.

"I'm just glad to be out of class. Whose brilliant idea was it to have class on Saturdays anyway?" Musa griped. "I realize that going to boarding school, we give up a ton of our rights, but there's something just intrinsically _wrong_ about having school on a weekend."

Bloom flinched imperceptibly, thinking about the morning class they'd just come from. Spell Theory was one of her worst subjects, and having the infamous Ms Griselda as a teacher didn't help either; the disciplinarian teacher seemed to love nothing more than singling her out for the tiniest mistakes. Unlike the rest of the teachers, who at least had a little bit of sympathy for her being so behind her peers, Griselda expected just as much from her as all of her classmates – if not even more, it felt like sometimes. It was enough to make Spell Theory – an already difficult subject, and one she'd never studied before coming to Alfea – her least-favorite class by miles, and Bloom detested the weeks when it sucked up part of her Saturday.

Flora came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling the redhead against her good-naturedly. "Griselda hates everyone, and the only people who understand Spell Theory are the geniuses with no social lives. Stop stressing."

"Thanks, Flo." She smiled, leaning her head against her friend's shoulder slightly._ She's so good at that – knowing exactly what I need to hear, when I need to hear it, before I can even say something about it._

"So Bloom," Stella chirped, focusing her attention on the princess of Sparx, who blinked a couple times, drawn out of her thoughts. "How are things with _Sky_?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, drawing out his name so it sounded ten syllables long. "Brandon texted something last night about him being really excited to come today, and somehow I doubt it's because of Tecna's special effects." Musa and Layla whistled and catcalled, while Stella made kissy noises.

Bloom's cheeks burned, and she hid her face in Flora's shoulder. Sky had sent her the same message last night, but she'd been too scared to text him anything back. She'd hoped that in the days that had passed since their first 'date,' she'd learn to swallow the guilt that came with now keeping not one, but two major secrets, but no such luck. It was tearing her into knots, having to lie to and deceive not just her friends, but a really good guy who seemed to care a lot about her. Combine that with the lack of contact from her _actual_ love interest, and she wasn't always in the brightest of spirits nowadays.

"Come on, you have to tell us – is he a good kisser? Because between you and me, he looks like he would be." Layla grinned deviously, her dark eyes sparkling.

Musa whacked Layla's arm. "Maybe she hasn't kissed him yet," the dark-haired girl hissed, not so quietly.

"I find that hard to believe," the princess of Tides shot back. "Come on, Bloom, spill."

"You guys," Flora chided, shaking a finger at the two of them. "They basically just met; why don't you wait a little bit before jumping down her throat for juicy details? Let Bloom have her privacy. It's her life, her choice what she wants to tell us and when."

The other three looked appropriately shamefaced at Flora's scolding, and Bloom marveled at her friend's ability to nip it in the bud like that. Maybe it came with the long-term familiarity, but she couldn't ever imagine being able to stand up to the three of them. "Thank you," she whispered under her breath, as the six girls crossed the street towards the theater.

"No problem," the fairy of nature responded evenly. "Someone's got to remind those three of the meaning of the word 'privacy' every so often."

Bloom was about to say something else when Flora took off running towards the doors, launching herself into Helia's arms. He scooped her up off her feet for a moment, then set her back down and reached up to push a piece of hair out of her face, slowly leaning in for a kiss. The redhead smiled wistfully, happy that her friend was happy but at the same time sad that she'd never be able to have that kind of freedom with Baltor.

She saw a flash of blond hair out of the corner of her eye, and her stomach dropped. Taking a surreptitious deep breath to steel herself, she forced a happy smile onto her face before she turned around to greet him. "Hey Sky," she chirped, reaching out to touch his arm like the good maybe-girlfriend she was supposed to be. "Long time no see, huh?"

He chuckled nervously, looking only slightly more at ease with all of their friends around than at the coffee shop alone with her. "How've you been?" he asked politely.

"Alright," she said, so not about to go into details about her academic failures with him. "It's so stupid that we have to go to class on Saturdays, though. This whole having a class schedule thing is just weird. Back home I pretty much got to decide when I wanted to have lessons. It's not like the tutor had anything else to do but whatever I wanted."

"That sounds awesome."

Bloom shrugged. Everyone she'd met in Magix was always fascinated by the details of her locked-up life, but to her, it was nothing special. She had lived it, after all, and been bored as hell. "There wasn't a whole lot else to do in the palace, so I actually had about as much instructional time as I do now. But he never wanted to teach me anything really interesting – just a bunch of manners junk. My mother's doing, of course." She snorted disdainfully.

"I bet your mom would get along great with mine. She's the same way about all that royal etiquette stuff; basically forced it down my throat from the day I was old enough to talk. Riven gave me hell for months freshman year, until I figured out how normal teenagers are supposed to act." He grinned sheepishly, and she couldn't help but giggle. Some habits must be just too hard to break, because Sky was by far the most well-mannered of the guys she'd met.

"Hey lovebirds, we're gonna miss our showtime if we don't get in there," Musa called from the threshold of the door leading into the movie theater. "You can flirt inside just as well."

Bloom ducked her head as Sky courteously held the door open for her, thankful that the theater was air-conditioned, providing a sharp relief to the warm afternoon. A few feet away, some of the other girls were in the concessions line. "You hungry?" Sky asked.

She shook her head. "I'm good. But if you want anything, go ahead." Crossing her fingers, she breathed a tiny sigh of relief when he loped off to join his friends in line, leaving her with a minute to herself.

As if on cue, she felt a vibration against her hip, and pulled out her cell phone. ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE blared the little icon on the lit-up screen, and for a moment she just stared, puzzled as to why she was getting a text when everyone she knew with a cell phone was here in the theater.

_To Bloom: Sorry I've been out of touch. Things got kind of crazy. NEED to see you again soon. Do you have plans next weekend?_

The number was unfamiliar and there was no name, but a giddy smile spread across Bloom's face as she stared at the screen, reading the words over and over again. She didn't even bother wondering how he'd gotten her number (how had he even found her in the first place? There were some things about Baltor that only added to his mystique, and reading too much into them would have ruined it). Her fingers flew rapid-fire over the keyboard as she tapped out a response: _I want to see you too. Of course I'm free. Where?_

"Bloom, darling!" She looked up from her phone to see Stella calling to her from in front of the entrance to their movie, the other girls and guys waiting with her, treats in hand. "Come on, you're going to miss the previews! They're the best part!"

Lacking Stella's confidence to simply yell across a large crowded room, she instead simply hit Send on her text and hurried over, quickly weaving through groups of other movie-goers. But her mind was elsewhere, and she collided hard with another person, thankfully not knocking either of them over in the process.

"Watch where you're going," the other girl snapped, before Bloom even had a chance to apologize. She recoiled at the edge to the girl's voice. Her accidental target was tall and scarily skinny with long white-blond hair, dressed head to toe in dark leather and wearing way too much eye makeup. Ice-blue eyes seemed to bore holes into the redhead, her stare cold and piercing.

_What is her problem?_ Bloom wondered. _Even though _I _hit _her_, this is a total overreaction._

"I… I'm sorry," she muttered under her breath, breaking into a jog as she covered the last few feet to the theater. Flora took her under her arm again and led her into the theater, and as the lights dimmed and she settled in between her friend and Sky, Bloom resolved to put the incident entirely out of her mind._ There are weirdos everywhere,_ she rationalized.

But she didn't see how the girl's eyes followed her as she left, or how she stood there watching the door the redhead had just gone through for several minutes, eyes reflecting the calculating machinations of her mind. And if she had, she might not have been so easy to dismiss it as nothing…

* * *

**Author's Note: A plethora of apologies to you all for many things - the long wait for this update, the disappointing length and contents of this chapter, and the fact that another wait for the next one is quite likely. I hate it as much as you all do, but life is refusing to be ignored as of late. :P**

**But even though I've been a lousy authoress and don't really deserve them, it would really warm my heart to see some more reviews. I know you're all reading, but where have all my eager reviewers from the first few chapters gone...?**

**Can't promise exactly when I'll be able to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as it were) again, but expect at least a delay of a couple weeks, while I battle the dreaded finals beast. And when I can write again, I promise I'll try my best not to leave you hanging like this again. We're almost past the necessary-but-boring stuff anyways, which means I should have more incentive to write. ;-)**

**_Ciao_ for now, darlings,  
**

**- Authoress**


	9. I'd Lie

"Another strawberry, love?"

Bloom lazily opened one eye, not bothering to move any other part of her body from her current, very comfortable position. "Do you really have to ask?"

From her vantage point, she couldn't quite see Baltor smirking, but she knew him well enough by now to know that he was. "Someone's gotten a little too used to being pampered." He dangled the bright red berry teasingly in front of her lips, the smirk turning into a smile as she propped herself up onto her elbows and took a substantial bite out of the fruit. Strawberry juice ran down the side of her chin, and before she could wipe it off, another hand with long, slender fingers moved to do it for her. Shivering slightly at the electricity of his touch, she lifted her chin to meet his lips with her own.

The half-eaten berry landed somewhere in the sand, neglected and forgotten in favor of something much sweeter.

Heat pooled in the pit of her stomach as he kissed her deeply, his fingers tracing along the curve of her jaw, cupping her face in his hands. When it became clear that he had no intention of letting her go any time soon, she gently eased back down onto the blanket, winding her arms around his neck as to never break the kiss. If he was shocked by her boldness in pulling him down with her, he didn't show it, continuing to kiss her like it was the last time he ever would, and Bloom thought she could do this forever.

Her mind had long since disconnected from her body, leaving her floating on what could quite possibly be referred to as Cloud 9, but as she felt his hands slowly start to inch downwards, she came back to herself like a shock of cold water. Thankfully, she only had to press slightly on his shoulders before he seemed to realize what she wanted.

"I… I'm sorry," she stuttered as they pulled apart, unable to look him in the eye. There was _so much_ about love and relationships that she'd had no idea about until coming to Alfea. Even now, having been 'enlightened' by Musa and Layla (the latter of whom had quite a crude sense of humor when she wanted to), Bloom still felt overwhelmed by everything. And it certainly didn't help that Baltor was so much more experienced than she was, likely in every way.

Kissing, she liked. No, kissing she _loved_. But anything more? Even if other girls her age did, she didn't think she'd be ready to go there for a long, long time.

"It's alright," he said soothingly, tracing little circles on the back of her hand. He always had to be touching her somehow, she'd noticed. Whether it was that, or playing with her hair, or simply having her leg bumping up against his; it was like he had some kind of fixation on her touch. Well, she certainly wasn't about to complain. "You set the boundaries here, remember? I'm satisfied to take things at whatever speed you want."

She smiled softly. _How did I get so lucky?_ she wondered. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, she sat up straight, pulling her legs under her to sit Indian style. Goodness, she'd been the one to pull _him_ down, she recalled, feeling her cheeks warm. All these mixed signals, and he was still willing to put up with her, quirks and all. _So incredibly lucky._

"So how are your classes going?" he asked, turning back to her with a container of what looked like chocolate mousse in hand, pulled from the seemingly bottomless picnic basket. "Last time we saw each other, you were saying you thought you were finally making progress?"

Bloom frowned, accepting a spoon from him and digging into the mousse, thankful that he didn't try to feed her again (look where it had ended up last time). While she appreciated his ability to switch subjects with such ease, this was hardly the topic she'd have chosen herself. "Not really," she said finally, around a slightly larger than polite-sized mouthful of the chocolaty deliciousness. Swallowing, she added, "I just… It feels like I'm so close to getting it, but I'm just like a fingertip's length out of reach somehow. It's so frustrating; like I could get it tomorrow, if I could just figure out the one thing I'm not doing right yet." She sighed despondently, scooping up another large bite of the dessert. "This is really good," she said. "Did you make it?"

He nodded. "I'm a man of many talents, my dear," he said to her awestruck look. "But back to your problem... I know my magic isn't exactly the same as yours, but I'd be happy to teach you a thing or two, if you'd like. They don't let just anyone teach at a school of magic, after all."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up. "You'd do that for me?"

He smiled softly. "Darling, there isn't much I wouldn't do for you."

To that, Bloom could think of no other response than to lean over and kiss him again.

He licked his lips when they parted, grinning slightly in a way that caused her stomach to do somersaults. "You taste like chocolate," he said, eyes sparkling, and she couldn't help but giggle.

Running her spoon around the edges of the container to scrape up any last bits of mousse, Bloom managed to tear her gaze away from Baltor and looked out at the lake, the water rippling slightly in the wind. Sparx was beautiful, of course, but she'd never seen anything like Magix, with its ridiculously temperate conditions that made a lakeside picnic possible in mid-November. Between the weather, the delicious treats that just kept coming from the basket, and of course the company, this was shaping up to be quite a perfect afternoon, but she still couldn't help feel a little sad.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Slightly startled, she turned back to Baltor, who had laid back across the blanket in what looked like a very comfortable, sprawled out position. _Like a cat, sunning itself,_ she thought with a flicker of mischief.

"It'd cost you a lot more than a penny for me," Bloom teased. "It's nothing," she insisted, turning back to face him. To his pointed I-don't-believe-you stare, she said, "Okay, fine, I was just thinking about how much I wish we could go on a real date. One where we don't have to hide or sneak around or lie."

His expression turned pensive, and her stomach turned. "Believe me," she rushed to add before he could say anything, "I understand why it has to be like this. And there's no one I'd rather be with, even if it meant things could be…" she struggled to find the correct words, so he wouldn't get the wrong idea "different. But… sometimes I just get sick of all the secrecy." Carving out a little bit of space for herself on the blanket, she laid back and closed her eyes, letting the warm wind blow through her hair.

"Where do your friends think you are now? On a date with that Eraklyon prince?" She opened an eye at the unexpected bite to his tone, and turned her head slightly to look at him without getting up.

Bloom tried not to talk about Sky with Baltor. It would have been impossible to keep it a secret – like she needed yet another secret in her life – so she'd ended up just telling him. But no matter how many times he said he was okay with it, she knew that he didn't like the idea of her with another guy. And the more Bloom thought about the way she was deceiving poor Sky, who deserved better than being a cover-up, the more it made her disappointed in herself. So to keep everyone happy, and to keep her sanity, she kept those two parts of her life very firmly apart.

Still, she knew she couldn't let the question go unanswered, or he'd start to think she was hiding something from him. Sometimes it pleased her, realizing that she knew how to recognize these little quirks in the man she'd come to care for so deeply, but sometimes they just annoyed her. "Yes," she said, maneuvering herself so he had no choice but to let her snuggle in under his arm. She rested her head on his shoulder and placed one hand on his chest; she found the steady thump of his heartbeat under her fingertips calming. "It kind of makes me feel bad, whenever I'm actually with him," she said softly. "He's a good guy; he deserves more than a pretend girlfriend."

"I'm sure he is a good guy. But I guess I can't blame him for liking you, beautiful." Her cheeks flushed, and he smirked; it never failed to amuse him that she still had the same reaction to that nickname. Idly, he started to run his fingers through her hair. "You're sort of irresistible."

"Well then it's a good thing I think you're sort of irresistible too." Bloom lifted her chin to kiss him again, closing her eyes when he didn't pull away after a few seconds. Just when she was beginning to feel those familiar tingles of attraction throughout her body, he abruptly pulled back and in one fluid motion, scooped her up into his arms and got to his feet.

"What… what are you doing?" she asked tentatively, flutters of anticipation coming to life in her stomach. The nervous feeling was only exacerbated by the positively wicked grin he gave her.

"Isn't it so hot out here?" he said, in the most fakely casual tone she could imagine. "I'm just dying. A dip sounds so nice, doesn't it?"

It took her a heartbeat to process his words, and by the time she realized what he'd said, he was already running down to the water's edge. "No! Stop! Put me down!" she squealed, already knowing her protests would have no effect. Closing her eyes, she braced herself for the impact; she'd borrowed a top from Stella, and she could only imagine how upset the Solorian princess would be when she brought it back full of water.

Except the feeling of soaking wet clothes sticking to her skin never came. The water did, bracingly cold against her skin, but as she landed in the lake, a tingly feeling surrounded her body – _magic_ – and she found herself wearing a pretty aquamarine swimsuit. Unfortunately, she only had a second to admire it before she went under.

Bloom came up coughing out water, her hair drenched and her eyes stinging. "Baltor!" she screeched, slapping her arms against the water's surface and making giant splashes that couldn't be ignored.

From behind her, she heard a familiar chuckle, and whirled around as best she could to see him laughing at her, standing in the shallower part of the lake. His clothes too had been replaced by a swimsuit, though he was only wet from the waist down. Bloom shivered, distracted for a moment by the view of his powerful abdominal muscles. _Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all…_

"You're going to pay for this," she warned, and he just laughed harder. Frustrated, she used a bit of magic to make a giant tidal wave and aimed it towards him. He dismissed it with a wave of his hand, sending it back down to the lake in splashes.

"Is that all you've got? You really do need magic lessons…"

Now it was her turn to laugh as the sand under his feet gave way, dragging him down under. She was still laughing when he came up sputtering for air, his hair hanging down his back like a dead weight. "Seems I'm not so useless after all," she quipped.

His eyes narrowed, but after a moment he gave up and laughed along with her. Using magic to bring her closer via a wave, he wrapped one arm around her waist and brought the other one up to push her soaking wet hair out of her face. "You are the farthest thing from useless." Shivers raced down her spine that had little to do with the wind against her dripping wet body. Bloom closed her eyes, already anticipating the kiss…

And instead got a mouthful of lake water as the sand sucked her under. "That was unfair!" she protested when she surfaced, her butt on the sand and most of her body covered by the water, which was starting to feel delightfully warm against her skin. Even from her current position, she managed to glare indignantly up at him.

"Hey, all's fair in love and war." There was laughter in his eyes, even if his expression was neutral, and a smile spread across her lips unbidden.

_I think love's supposed to feel a little like this._

* * *

Even using a magic drying spell, the ends of Bloom's hair were still slightly wet when she walked back through the gates of Alfea later that afternoon. She kind of liked it that way, having a tiny reminder of their fun in the lake – swimming, splashing, floating, tackling, kissing, kissing…

"_Someone's_ happy," Stella chirped as the princess of Sparx pushed open the door to the common room. "I'm guessing the date went well?"

Bloom flinched imperceptibly, the seemingly innocent inquiries sending slivers of ice down her back. "Yeah, it did," she said softly, feeling her happy buzz start to dissipate. Mumbling excuses about homework, a nap, a shower – anything, really – she shut the door to her room and flopped down face first onto the bed.

_ Amazing how you can go from being on top of the world to feeling like pond scum in less than a minute._

* * *

"Well look who finally got a life!"

Making a face to himself where she couldn't see, Baltor rolled his eyes and turned around to see Icy leaning in the doorway. "What are you going on about now, Icy?" he asked, taking extra effort to appear involved in tidying the piles of paper on his desk. "Whatever it is, can you make it quick? I'm kind of busy right now."

The temperature of the room seemed to drop a degree or two as she peeled herself off the side of the doorway and started walking towards him, her hips slinking from side to side in a way that reminded him of a snake. _That's a good comparison for her,_ he thought to himself, biting his lip to keep from smiling. _Slimy, likes to bite, and always up to no good._

She sidled up to his side and rested her hands on his shoulders, leaving him with no choice but to look up at her. "Well, I had something to discuss with you earlier, but I couldn't find you in any of your usual haunts. And since you don't exactly go out into the city for no reason, there's only one logical explanation." Icy was the only person he knew that could manage to look truly menacing even when she smiled. "So tell me, Baltor, who is she?"

Those three words were like needles of ice jabbed into his spine. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, pulling away from her and reaching into a drawer to grab a book. He had no use for it, only needed to pull his gaze away from hers, so she couldn't look into his eyes and see through his words. "I had a headache, so I went down to the lake for a while to clear my head. I don't suppose _you'd_ have noticed, since you spend all your free time in dimly lit clubs, but we happen to live in an incredibly temperate place. Pardon me for taking advantage of it, and making myself unavailable to Your Highness."

She made a little annoyed sound in the back of her throat, and he bit his lip to keep from smiling; no matter what the circumstances, he loved messing with her. It was sometimes the only reason he didn't just tell her to piss off for good when she got into one of her moods and started taking it out on him. "And because the weather was so nice, you decided to go for a swim – a _solo_ swim – in Lake Roccaluce in mid-November?"

This time he wasn't quick enough to catch his look of shock before she saw it. "Oh, honey," Icy cooed, draping one arm over his shoulder like a creeping vine, "you make it too easy for me." He just grit his teeth and tried not to inhale too much of her cloying perfume, as she pressed herself up against his body until she was practically wrapped around him. "You've let your skills atrophy, Baltor," she said, in a barely audible voice, her lips inches from his ear. "You used to be a much better liar."

At that, he finally had had enough, and yanked himself free of her grasp. She only smiled unnervingly, looking all but undisturbed. Compulsively, he straightened his jacket a bit, as if he could brush off the memory of her wrapping herself around him like so much dust.

"If you've already decided that every word out of my mouth is a lie, I fail to see the purpose of any further conversation. And whether you believe me or not, I really do have work to do, dear heart, so if you don't mind…?" Her eyebrows arched at the endearment, said in anything but an endearing tone.

"Alright. If that's how you want to do this, I'll play along. We're all entitled to our secrets, after all. But just remember this." Her light blue eyes glittered with the promise of something dangerous. "Even the best-kept secrets eventually find their way into the world…"

"Good_bye_, Icy." Without any further pretense, he used a bit of magic to send her out the door, slamming it behind her on the way. As soon as she was gone, he sank down into his chair and closed his eyes, feeling the beginning of a massive headache blooming between his eyes. _That girl is going to be the death of me some day_, he thought to himself.

Outside, Icy stood staring at the recently closed door. A devious smile slid across her lips as she examined the object held carefully between her fingers: a single strand of red hair…

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm on my way out the door to go see a play, so this'll have to be quick. I know the last chapter was disappointing, so what do you think? Did I make up for it with this one? Please, whatever you thought, leave me a review and let me know; the feedback on last chapter was much appreciated. :)**

**Next chapter - which is a doozy; I've written part of it already and I'm so excited - is looking like it'll be up on New Year's Eve, in what ****is rapidly becoming a tradition of mine and E's (for those who follow it, the new Bright Lights Black City chapter will be up then too; as if you didn't have a good enough reason to stay up till midnight already). And then it looks like you can probably expect at least semi-regular updates from me for the rest of the story. In case anyone's curious, we're a little less than halfway through length-wise (as far as number of chapters goes) and slightly less than that from halfway through plot-wise. Yep, I know the last few updates have been on the drier side, but trust me, it definitely gets better.**

**Stay safe! Good luck on finals, for those of us (myself included) who've yet to take them! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!**

**Later, gators,**

**- Authoress**


	10. This is a Dark Night

At first, Bloom thought the tapping sound was just the rain – it had been a particularly wet week, and she'd fallen asleep to the coins-dropping-on-a-metal-surface sound of raindrops battering against the roof of her dorm every night. (Why, she'd wondered more than once, if Alfea had all those protection spells to keep out dark magic and ill-intentioned intruders, couldn't they make one to protect against the rain too?) But then the sound grew more insistent, and even in the half-conscious dizzy space between waking and sleeping, she had the faintest idea that there was something outside.

The next thing she heard was the creaking sound of an old hinge being made to move. A hand brushed against her arm, and her eyes flew open; for a moment she was so disoriented that the world seemed to swing around her like the view from a moving carousel. She opened her mouth – to find out who it was or to scream, she wasn't sure, and she never got the chance to find out, as a hand clamped down over her mouth.

"Shh," a familiar voice warned, stealing into her mind through the faintest traces of sleep still wrapped around her brain. "You'll wake your roommates." Above her, she saw a pair of eyes that glittered gold like a cat's.

Mostly awake now, Bloom blinked her eyes a few times, her vision adjusting to the darkness. "Baltor?" she whispered, as he took his hand off her mouth, her eyes widening. "Is that really you?"

"Were you expecting someone else to climb through your window in the middle of the night? Because if so, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in you." He grinned. "Nice PJs." She blushed, remembering how she'd put on a skimpy camisole and short-shorts after a spell of Stella's went awry and broke the heating in their suite, ratcheting the temperatures up to desert extremes. Even in the darkness, she could feel his eyes on her bare skin, and she shivered despite the heat.

She brought one hand up to his arm, feeling the strength of his muscle, the warmth of his skin. That scent she'd come to associate with him – leather and spices and the smoky burnt scent of darker magic than what she practiced – hung in the air all around her, dampened by the earthy-fresh scent of dirt and rain. "What are you _doing_ here?" she asked, careful to keep her voice hushed. This was so wrong in so many ways, but she couldn't help herself; tingles of excitement skittered down her spine. Between her cramming for finals and his own hectic schedule, it had been far too long since she'd had an opportunity like this, and, well, if he was already here, why shouldn't she take advantage of it?

Apparently, he had the same idea, because before she could take another breath he had drawn her into him, bringing his lips down to hers for a kiss that was more fierce than langorous, a hot and fast-burning fire. His lips tasted like honey and something else, something deeper and darker that made her head spin like she was drunk. Her hands came up to slide over his chest and arms, his white shirt made paper-thin from the rain; tracing the swell of his biceps, his shoulder, down the line between his pectoral muscles, across his flat washboard stomach. They were both breathing hard when her fingers hovered over the buckle on his belt, but he didn't move, just looked at her with an expression that said: _Whatever you want._

And Bloom didn't really know what she wanted, except that she definitely wanted to kiss him some more. So she did just that, abandoning the scariness of the unknown for the familiarity of his kisses, his touch. Gently, he eased her back down onto the bed, until she was lying under him; he had a way of propping himself over her so that she wasn't crushed but she could feel every part of him against her. And this was moving in the direction of somewhere they'd never gone before and _oh God_ her friends were asleep in the other rooms and she really should've been telling him to stop but how could she when it felt like this–

"I love you," she whispered, the words just sliding out before she could catch them. There was an odd, hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she was starting to feel a bit light-headed, like the time she'd drunk too much champagne at an embassy ball; the cold air coming through the window felt almost liquid on her super-heated skin. "I don't ever want to lose you."

Baltor's eyes were luminous in the dark. "That will never happen."

She looked up at him, her head suddenly feeling much too heavy for the rest of her body to support. "How can you be sure?"

There was a flash of silver in the darkness, and something cold and sharp moved against her skin. All she felt for a moment was surprise – and then pain, excruciating and ice-cold, as blood soaked through the front of her camisole. Her lips formed a startled O shape; with what remained of her strength, she looked down at her chest to see a slim silver dagger protruding from her heart. Baltor's hand tightened around the hilt, an inscrutable look in his golden eyes.

Her consciousness ebbed rapidly, the world starting to spin before her eyes._ What… no… why… I don't… no…_

Then, as if coming from somewhere outside of this world, a long-forgotten memory dredged up from the depths of her mind, she heard a voice break through the fog of pain and disbelief, seeming to echo in her bones.

Baltor's voice.

_I would never let anything happen to you, beautiful girl._

"This… this isn't real…" she murmured weakly, her head lolling to one side as blackness rushed in to cover her vision. "It can't be…"

* * *

Waking up from the nightmare was like crashing through a plate glass window; the razored shards of it seemed to slice at Bloom even as she pulled free and sat up, gasping. She rolled off the bed, instinctively wanting to get away, and hit the floor on her hands and knees. Cold air poured through the open window, making her shiver but clearing away the last, clinging tendrils of the dream.

She stared down at her chest, at the cozy owl-print pajamas she'd put on several hours earlier, now soaked through with sweat but not with blood. Her heart slammed against her rib cage as she surveyed the room, seeing no one else there.

_It was just a dream,_ she told herself, trying to calm her heart rate. _Just a morbid figment of my imagination. No matter how real it felt, or how awful it was… it wasn't true. It didn't really happen._

Except there was a twinge in her chest when she tried to move again, and what felt like a sliver of ice lodged in her ribs, right where the knife had been in her dream. Her breath came in ragged, heaving pants, like she'd just run a marathon, and her limbs were sore and achy as well, her energy at an all-time low pit. She was no stranger to nightmares, but never had one left her feeling anything like this.

_What _did _just happen to me?_

A fine mist of raindrops splashed across her face, and startled from her thoughts by the sensation, Bloom stumbled to her feet, getting up to close the window – the storm must've loosened the latch, she thought. As she reached for the open panes, a flash of lightning provided a brief moment of illumination, and out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadowy flicker of movement on the wall, like the tail of a snake. But by the time she'd gotten the window shut, there was nothing. _Now I'm seeing things too. Wonderful._

The door to her room flew open with a rumble of thunder, and Flora, Layla, and Musa came in, each in her own interpretation of sleepwear and in varying stages of wakefulness. "Did something happen, sweetie?" Flora asked kindly, by far the most awake-looking. "We heard you scream."

With the window closed, the temperature of the room had increased a few degrees, but Bloom still shivered. "I… had a nightmare," she said, gently sitting back down on her bed.

As if following some silent cue, the others made their way over to the bed and arranged themselves around her. "Do you want to talk about it?" Layla asked, reaching out for the redhead's hand.

Bloom blanched. "N-not really," she mumbled.

"Okay, we've established that B's not dead. Can I go back to sleep now?" came Musa's voice, slightly smothered-sounding. The fairy of music was, in fact, sprawled out on her stomach with her face buried in Bloom's pillow, looking very much like she wanted to just curl up where she was and return to dreamland.

"You don't have to get up if you want, Musa," Bloom said, making a sudden decision. "I can sleep in your room, if you don't mind." Spending another minute alone in her single, with the storm and the flickering shadows and the stubbornly clinging remnants of the nightmare, sounded like a recipe for disaster. Even if Tecna was still asleep, Bloom thought she'd sleep easier just knowing there was another person a few feet away.

"Cool." Musa's breathing deepened, and Bloom got to her feet; Flora and Layla wrapped their arms around her and helped her out the door, like she was a hospital invalid re-learning how to walk. Secretly, though, she appreciated their support, as the memory of that nightmare refused to leave her alone.

"You _sure_ you don't want to talk about it?" Flora asked again, gently, as they stopped in front of the door to Musa and Tecna's room. "That must've been one awful dream if you don't want to sleep alone."

"I'm sure," Bloom insisted, steadying herself on the doorway. "Thanks for everything, you guys. Really. You're the best."

The two girls smiled, before heading back to the room they shared. Bloom shut the door quietly behind her. "Tec?" she whispered into the darkness, not wanting to wake her friend if the fairy of technology was still asleep.

A greenish glow illuminated Tecna's side from all her computers and gadgets. In their light, Bloom saw the pink-haired girl lying half fallen out of her bed, her head and shoulders on the ground while her legs remained splayed on the bed.

"Tecna!" she cried, rushing over to her friend's side. She picked up the other girl's hand; her skin was paler than usual, cold as ice, and clammy to the touch. Desperately, Bloom started shaking her. "Tecna, wake up!"

With a long, startled gasp of air like a nearly-drowned person breathing in for the first time after going under, Tecna sat up straight, her arms thrashing wildly. "Tecna, you're safe now," Bloom said, grabbing her friend's arms and holding them down, staring into her eyes. "You were having a nightmare."

"Oh my," she said, after Bloom explained how she'd found her. "Oh, I remember now. Oh, it was _horrible_." She shuddered. As curious as Bloom was about the subject matter of her friend's nightmare, she didn't ask. If it had scared her this much, it was likely personal, the way her own had been.

"Are you alright?" the redhead asked, helping her friend up off the ground. "I mean, besides being understandably shaken… How do you feel?"

Tecna blinked a few times. "Actually, I feel quite strange. My heart won't stop racing, and my magic feels all but drained." She winced. "What _happened_ to me?"

Bloom's heart started to beat slightly faster. Something didn't feel right about this. "I just had a nightmare too. I have no idea how, but I think they might be connected–"

A long, high, piercing scream cut her off mid-sentence. The two girls stopped and looked at each other.

"Stella," they said in unison, before leaping to their feet and running out the door to the Solorian princess's room.

Stella was still screaming when they threw open the doors to her room, the other girls hot on their heels – an incredibly high-pitched sound that never broke for breath. The blond was sitting up with legs tucked under her at the very edge of her bed, like she was trying to get away from something, hair in full-on bedhead mode and covers yanked up to her chin. On the other side of the room, balanced like a spider in the corner between the walls, was a giant, scaly gray monster with big claws, a long tail, and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

For one single solitary moment, Bloom thought to herself: _A tail? So I wasn't crazy after all._

"What _is_ that thing?" demanded Musa, her voice betraying no further hint of sleepiness; apparently, the hideous monster was enough to shock her awake.

"Who cares?" Layla said, sounding surprisingly fired up for it being the middle of the night. "It shouldn't be here. Come on girls, let's get it!"

Bloom loved the feeling of transforming with her friends; the air seemed electrified, full of magic and possibility. It made her feel like she was strong enough to do anything. Hyped up on the adrenaline of battle, she grew a fireball in her hands and launched it at the monster. It gave a groan as it tumbled backwards, knocking into the wall.

_ Pain, excruciating and ice-cold, as blood soaked through the front of her camisole. Her lips formed a startled O shape; with what remained of her strength, she looked down at her chest to see a slim silver dagger protruding from her heart. Baltor's hand tightened around the hilt, an inscrutable look in his golden eyes._

"Bloom, snap out of it!" She came back to herself to see the monster running out the open door into the common room. The others gave chase, while Stella hovered by her side to make sure she was okay.

Bloom shuddered. "I'm alright," she said, trying to shake it off. _How am I supposed to fight this thing if _that_'s going to happen every time?_

They flew into the other room just in time to see the monster head out into the hallway. "Oh no you don't," Layla said, forming a ball of sticky pink Morphix, the substance that in her hands could be wielded better than any weapon. "Plasma Bolt!"

Her magic hit the monster, knocking it back slightly, but it didn't seem to have any sort of long-lasting effect. In fact, when the thing got to its feet, it looked even bigger than before, like it had absorbed the fairy of waves' magic.

"Is it just me, or did Mr. Ugly just get bigger _and_ uglier?" Stella cried, zapping it with a sun bolt that had the same non-effect. The blond's eyes glazed over for a moment, and Bloom wondered what she was seeing.

"How are we supposed to fight something that just absorbs our magic and gets stronger?" Musa exclaimed, forming a protection shield around herself that looked like a purple-tinted disco ball as the monster made to swipe its tail at her. The tail bounced off her shield but sent her flying backwards into a wall.

Bloom grit her teeth. "With everything we've got." Summoning up magic from the deepest of her reserves, she called out, "Heat Flare!" A wave of fire headed towards the creature, knocking it backwards and through the window, and the tinkling sound of broken glass joined the symphony of the rain outside. Determined, she flew out the hole after it, not even waiting to see if the others followed.

"Let's see how you like this. Ivy Vine Wrap!" Flora blew a handful of sparkly pollen towards the creature, which turned into giant vines that wrapped tightly around it, keeping it from moving. It struggled for a moment, then somehow managed to break free.

"Storm of Numbers!" Tecna cried, shooting waves of green energy at it. The creature turned its back and used its tail to whip the pink-haired girl's magic back at her, sending her flying across the courtyard.

"This thing's unbeatable," Stella said, forming a giant star-shaped shield to protect herself from the ball of energy that came from the monster's jaws.

Between the wind and the rain, Bloom could barely see, but she built another fireball anyways. "No. It's not. We just have to find a way." As the monster opened its jaws to shoot another energy ball, Bloom aimed her magic at its open mouth. The resulting fallout knocked her out of the sky and sent her falling on her butt on the other side of the courtyard.

The princess of Sparx bit her tongue so hard it bled, every bone in her body jarring on the impact with the ground. She was freezing from the wind and rain, drained from fighting this creature, and mentally depleted in the aftermath of that soul-shaking nightmare. Maybe Stella was right; maybe it was impossible to beat this thing.

Maybe _she_ just wasn't strong enough.

_No. I can_not_ afford to think like that. This thing put images into my head that I'll probably never get out. It _has_ to pay. Right here, right now. No mercy._

There was a fluttering sort of sensation behind her breastbone, then white light spread to cover her vision, similar to when she transformed. She was dancing, going through motions as if guided by an unseen force, like her body was somehow two steps ahead of her mind. The pain and helplessness was gone, replaced by a tremendous surge of warmth and a feeling of utter euphoria; tingles of magic caressed her skin, and a slight stretching sensation at her back, and then…

The light faded.

"Whoa," Musa remarked, flying over to her side. "Bloom, what happened to you?" Confused, Bloom looked down at herself – then gasped.

Her sleeveless teal crop turtleneck and matching extremely mini skirt had been replaced by a strapless multi-tiered frilly dress in shades of turquoise, light blue, and dark blue. Instead of teal ankle boots, her feet bore strappy barefoot sandals that looked like coils of blue wire wrapped around her feet, decorated with little blue hearts. Shimmery sheer pale pink gloves reached past her elbow, and her hair had grown several inches in length and was streaked with yellow-orange highlights, with a set of blue heart-shaped barrettes on either side of her head. And her wings… They used to be small and simple, pale blue with turquoise tips, but now they were enormous and multi-sectioned, reminding her of a dragonfly's, light yellow and veined in green with pale blue trim and dark blue decorative jewels.

She'd only managed to transform for the first time a few months ago, and she'd never had anything against her fairy outfit – the others' were pretty similar, after all, uniformly one color and simple – but this… this was something else.

"Bloom, watch out!" Layla yelled, and startled, she looked up to see the monster open its mouth and aim a ball of energy right at her. Instinctively, she formed a glowing heart-shaped shield that seemed to burn more brightly than her earlier attempts at a shield had.

It didn't just look stronger; it _was_ stronger, she discovered, as the monster's energy rebounded back to strike its creator, for once doing damage and not just being reabsorbed into the creature's tough hide. Her mouth dropped open slightly in shock, although she quickly closed at it at the taste of rainwater on her tongue. "_What_… happened to me?"

In the windows above, a light flicked on, then another, then several more. Shadows of figures appeared at the windows, and a few brave souls came rushing out onto the covered walkway, still in pajamas, to see what was going on outside, shouts and cries making themselves heard over the wind.

"We can figure it out later; for now, let's just get rid of this thing already!" Nodding her assent, she fluttered her new wings faster, zooming over to where the monster held court in the center of what was in inclement weather the girls' favorite spot to hang out. It certainly wasn't looking so great now; most of the benches and potted plants had been knocked over by the monster's tail, and smashed by the girls' misplaced magic. And throughout everything the rain continued to pour, although Bloom noticed that her new outfit seemed slightly more rain-resistant.

A trail of sparkly golden powder seemed to follow where she flew, and Bloom inhaled sharply when she saw the monster recoil as the glittering stuff landed on it. "Bloom! Whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" Stella shouted. Confused, the redhead shrugged and started flying circles around the monster, sparkles from her wings raining down on it and forming something like a shimmering golden net, trapping the monster in place.

"_What_ is going on out here?" Ms Faragonda's no-nonsense voice rang out like the chime of a bell, loud and clear even over the sounds of the storm, the monster's growls, and the underclassmen's shrieking. The white-haired teacher materialized in the courtyard, fists already glowing with pale blue magic energy.

"We don't know, Ms F," called Flora, physically the closest to their headmistress at the time. "This thing showed up in our rooms and–"

There was a roar like the rumble of a freight train as the monster tore itself free of the golden net, which dissipated into the wind in a way that would've almost looked pretty, if it weren't for what it meant. "Fight now, talk later, girls," the headmistress declared, assailing the creature with a barrage of her energy balls. "Don't just stand there, help me!"

Bloom was the first to regain her senses, and she couldn't help but notice that her fireballs seemed to have doubled in intensity. The six girls and their headmistress bombarded the monster with magic, until finally, with a pitiful groan, it exploded into a million pieces.

"Alright, Ms F!" Layla cheered, throwing her hands up in the victory V. "We killed it!"

"No, we didn't, Layla," Ms Faragonda said, sounding uncharacteristically grave. Her eyes flicked over the six girls, pausing for a moment on Bloom in a way that made the redhead feel slightly uncomfortable. "Why don't you come inside, girls, and get out of this dreadful rain? We have much to discuss."

* * *

Outside the windows of Ms Faragonda's office, the storm continued, clouds dark and foreboding dumping buckets of gray rain. It was a sharp contrast to the cheery, bright atmosphere inside – every light on at full power, the warm greens and soft golds of the color scheme eliciting feelings of motherly protectiveness and kindness, just like their headmistress. The six girls were bundled up in blankets and towels, clutching mugs of hot chocolate – all in an attempt to help them warm up and relax.

It might have been working for some of them, but not for Bloom.

"What _was_ that thing, Ms F?" Stella asked finally, breaking the silence that seemed to have settled over the room like a thick, heavy blanket.

Ms Faragonda looked up at them over her spectacles. "Did you girls have bad dreams before waking to find the monster in your rooms?" Bloom, Stella, and Tecna nodded. "That was a nightmare demon from the forgotten dimension of Obsidian." Even though she'd never heard of either the monster or the realm, Bloom shivered; a quick glance around revealed that the others had had similar reactions. "They creep into your mind, create a nightmare from your deepest and most private fears, then drain your magic energy at your most terrified moment, and they've even been known to eat their victims after draining their energy, if they're not interrupted. You girls got very lucky to wake when you did, and you held your own against it quite admirably for a group of students."

"But… we killed it, right?" Musa said, her face even paler than usual. "We blasted it, and it disappeared. Usually that's how you kill a monster."

"I'm sorry, girls, but we only banished it from campus. You can't kill a demon; they're older than this world. The only way to truly get rid of it would be to send it back to Obsidian, and that can only be done by the one who called it to this dimension in the first place. It's still out there somewhere, probably re-formed on another realm after we scared it off. I'll tell the Magix Council to send out an alert." Glancing back down to her desk, she muttered under her breath, "To conjure one would be far from an easy task, and magic most foul indeed. I'm going to have to have a chat with Ms Griffin and see if any of her students have been dabbling with forces beyond their comprehension." None of the girls quite knew what to say to that – she hadn't really been talking to them either – so they said nothing.

Though the relief was palpable, there was another slightly awkward silence. Bloom took another sip of hot chocolate, letting it warm her up from the inside out, but it still wasn't enough for her to feel completely at ease. Now that the battle adrenaline was wearing off, she had nothing but questions about why she'd suddenly become stronger. It didn't make any sense – why _her_, of all the girls?

"Ms F," she said, her voice shaking slightly. She cleared her throat, then started again, "Ms F, what happened to me out there? You know something; I know you do."

Ms Faragonda sighed, and took off her glasses. "I want to preface this by saying, Bloom, that you have proven yourself to be quite a rare exception to some of the rules of fairies. So know going into this that there are some questions I cannot answer. I believe those answers lie within you, and you are the only one who can discover them."

Bloom licked her lips, her mouth suddenly feeling dry as sand. "Alright."

"What happened to you tonight, child, is that you gained your Enchantix." Next to her, Tecna gave a startled gasp, and Bloom looked at her friend curiously. "Enchantix is the highest fairy form, the final step to becoming a full-fledged fairy. It gives you access to far greater powers than your basic fairy form, including fairy dust – the sparkling powder in your new wings that trapped the demon." To Bloom's incredulous look, she laughed and said, "Yes, I saw that. You girls really were doing quite well when I stepped in."

"But… but that's impossible!" Tecna blurted, looking like it had taken all of her restraint to hold back this long. "Enchantix can only be earned by making a great–"

"By making a great sacrifice and saving someone from your home realm," Ms Faragonda finished. "You are correct, Tecna. Which is where my knowledge starts to fail us. At this point, I can only make conjectures, and not absolute statements of fact." The older woman stared straight at Bloom, her intense gaze making the redhead shift uncomfortably in her seat. "You had a nightmare tonight, did you not?" Bloom nodded. "And you've struggled with combat magic ever since you got to Alfea." Even though the statement wasn't said unkindly, the princess of Sparx's cheeks burned. "I don't presume to tell you how you were feeling, but my current theory is that your despair at your own current abilities and your desire to be strong enough to fight off the demon was so strong that it simply transformed you. It's as if you _willed_ yourself into an Enchantix."

"Whoa," Musa said.

"It's very impressive indeed," Ms Faragonda said, smiling slightly, before her expression turned serious. "And also a bit scary. One of the many reasons Enchantix fairies are so strong is that their powers are born out of sacrifice – a plentiful source of some very potent magic." Bloom shivered, remembering one of their Spell Theory lessons from a few weeks ago, where Griselda had gone on about the magic of sacrifice, deconstructing old legends about virgin sacrifice. She'd had a hard time sleeping for a few days after that. "This willpower-based Enchantix form of yours might not be as complete. I'd like to study it for a while, if you don't mind, Bloom. This would be for your own safety more than anything."

"Of course." An enormous yawn escaped her mouth, and Bloom realized how tired she was. And not just sleepy tired; an all-consuming sort of exhaustion that seemed to go straight to the bone. "But does it have to be right away?"

"Oh heavens no." Ms Faragonda chuckled, then reached into a drawer of her desk and pulled out a little orange pill bottle. "Right now, I'd say you girls need some sleep. And since I can only imagine you'll be finding that a difficult prospect after what you've been through, I have something for you." She opened the bottle and handed them each one of the pale blue capsules. "These pills contain a dreamless-sleep spell. Swallow one and you'll be out for at least a good ten or eleven hours, with absolutely no dreams."

"Thanks, Ms F," Stella said, popping hers in her mouth immediately. "You're right; there's no way I could've gone back to sleep after that nightmare."

"And I'm more sorry than you can possibly imagine that you had to go through this, girls. I promise, I _will_ get to the bottom of this."

"You're the best, Ms Faragonda," Bloom said, pushing her chair back and getting to her feet.

"And don't worry, Bloom," the headmistress continued, holding the redhead's gaze with her own as the other girls started to file out of the office, "we will figure out what happened to you tonight as well. But getting your Enchantix is something to celebrate. Don't be afraid of what we don't know."

"Of course. Thank you." Nodding slightly, she quickly turned around and followed her friends down the hall to their suite.

The rain had stopped by the time they made it back, and the sky was just starting to lighten. "Thank heavens it's Saturday," Musa said as they walked through the doors, finding their common room in the same state of disarray they'd left it in only a few hours earlier. "I couldn't imagine trying to go to classes after the night we just had."

"And thank heavens for Ms F's pills," Stella chimed in, throwing herself down onto one of the couches and closing her eyes, like she could fall asleep right there. "You three are beyond lucky that thing didn't get into your heads," she said, pointing to Flora, Musa, and Layla. "That was probably the worst thing I'd ever experienced. I was reliving all my old memories of my parents' divorce…" Her tiny body shook with the effort of her shudder.

"Mine was horrible as well," Tecna said, leaning against the doorway of her room, looking almost half asleep. "I couldn't feel anything; no emotional capacities whatsoever, like I was a robot. Even when I woke up, it took me a minute to realize that I had actually woken up, and could feel again. It was just so _real_."

Musa walked over to her roommate and wrapped her arms around the pink-haired girl's skinny shoulders. "But it wasn't real, Tec," she said softly. "You're not like that. We know you aren't."

"What about you, Bloom?" Layla asked, pointing a finger at the redhead, who had just been about to slip through the doors of her room. "You were _so_ shaken up by what you saw; what happened in your nightmare?"

She froze, thankful that her back was to the other girls so they couldn't see the look of absolute panic that flashed across her face. "I was back home in the palace on Sparx, locked up again. Like an actual gold cage this time, as if I were a bird or something." She shook her head a couple times. "I don't want to think about it. Can we just go to bed?"

"Of course, sweetie," Flora said kindly, coming over to give her a quick hug before heading off to her own room.

Bloom shut the doors to her room and leaned back against them, letting herself truly feel the weight of her exhaustion. After a moment, she placed Ms Faragonda's pill on her tongue, conjuring up a glass of water to swallow it. The tiny tablet stuck slightly in the back of her throat – like the lie she'd had to tell to her friends.

_My whole life feels like it's built on lies these days,_ she thought to herself as she slid under the covers. _And one day they're just going to come crashing down around me like a house of cards._

Thankfully, that depressing notion was her last coherent thought for quite some time.

* * *

**Author's Note:** **Happy New Year's everyone! I know NYE's not really a present-giving holiday, but somehow I doubt anyone's complaining too much. ;-)**

**So yes, _finally_ we get a hint of the action I've been promising for a while. (I hope I did it justice; I _suck_ at action/battle scenes). For those who don't remember (or never saw it, because you only know the stupid Nick stuff...), this is a take on an episode from season 1, but with my own awesome (and Sparxshipping) twist. ****God, I had so much fun writing this chapter... and it only gets better from here, I promise. And like with the Dragon Fire connection, I have my reasons for carrying over the Bloom-willing-herself-into-Enchantix thing from canon, even when my AU twists render it unnecessary. Everything fits together in the end, like teeny-tiny puzzle pieces all stacking up before you see the big picture. Just trust me for now, and you'll see. :)**

**Oh, and hey, so I know the holiday season is basically over now, but if you haven't seen it already, I wrote a Christmas fic called "The Magic of Christmas." It's up on my profile, so once you've recovered from all your New Year's celebrating (ahem), please do go check it out; it's sorely lacking in reviews...**

**I think that's all for now - I kinda have some celebrating of my own to do - so here's wishing everyone a wonderful 2013. I love you all for sticking with me this far, I really do.**

**xoxo,**

**- Authoress**


	11. Fidelity

Bloom hurried down the street, thankful for the support of her wedge sandals (rather than the high heels Stella had tried to force her into) as she ran towards her destination. Narrowly avoiding barreling into a sharply dressed businessman talking on his phone, she shouted an apology over her shoulder as she turned the corner, finally slowing down in front of a green-awninged restaurant. Bypassing the hostess' table at the front, she wove through the arrangement of small tables throughout the room, stopping briefly to fix her hair in a long mirror on the wall, then made her way towards a table in the back where a lone occupant sat reading a menu.

"Sorry I'm late," she announced, sliding into the oppposite seat and opening up the folded cloth napkin on top of her plate. "It's a long, stupid story with a moral of basically, don't ever let your roommates suck you into helping them with anything when you have somewhere to be within the hour."

Sky smiled forgivingly, and like always, it sent a little dart of pain through Bloom's heart. "That's okay. Hope you don't mind that I ordered for us already."

She gathered her hair off her shoulders and let it slide down her back, then reached for the glass of water in front of her place and took a long sip. "I guess I really am never going to get to see the menu here." He stared blankly as she laughed, forcing her to elaborate, "Don't you remember our first… when we first met? The big group dinner?"

"Oh," he said. Slowly, she saw the recognition take over his face, followed by a small smile. "Yeah. I remember now."

A spark of indignation flared through Bloom, and under the table, her hands balled into fists, nails pricking at her palms. _Why in the realms am I here with this guy who doesn't even have a sense of humor?_

She took a deep breath and waited for the sudden surge of anger to pass. It hadn't gotten any easier, balancing the two very different guys in her life, and she couldn't help compare them sometimes. But it wasn't at all fair to poor Sky to be thinking like this when she was already here on the date.

Thankfully, she was aided in her endeavors by the arrival of a bubbling pot of cheese fondue. "Enjoy," the perky waitress said, and she hadn't even disappeared from sight before Bloom stabbed a piece of bread and dipped it into the cheese mixture.

The flavors melted on her tongue, and Bloom let out an audible hum of pleasure. "This is amazing," she exclaimed, already reaching for another piece of bread. This one didn't taste quite as good, as she was hit with a little pang of envy – _I wish I could have nice dates like this with Baltor…_

Swallowing, she took a gulp of water and forced a smile onto her face as she looked up at Sky. "So did you have a nice time with your family over break?"

Prompted by her question, Sky immediately launched into a story about being dragged into rulers council meetings by his father, followed by one about being forced by his mother to dance with every girl in the room at a never-ending stream of parties. Bloom smiled and nodded in all the right places, then gave him a brief run-down of the night before break and her adventures with the nightmare demon. By this point, the fondue was almost all gone.

"Getting your Enchantix is a big deal. We should celebrate." Before she could protest, Sky flagged down the waiter and ordered a piece of chocolate cake. Bloom bit her tongue, not really wanting to drag the date out further.

As soon as the cake arrived, she stuck a fork into it immediately. Stella would yell at her for overeating, but if she could just keep her mouth full at all times, maybe she could get through this.

_Oh God, listen to me. Why am I doing this?_ she thought to herself. The cake was delicious, but somehow the sweetness was tempered by the nastiness of her thoughts. _This is ridiculous. I'm hurting both of us, and he deserves better. There's got to be another way to keep my cover._

"So Bloom…" She snapped out of her thoughts to see Sky looking at her with a nervous expression on his face. "I know we haven't been together for very long, and that maybe I'm going to scare you off by bringing up something like this now, but I just feel like we have a real connection, and I…"

"Sky." She laughed, and his face only grew redder. "Calm down."

He nodded, though his face didn't change a bit. "I was hoping that you might… come stay with me over the summer," he blurted out all in a rush. "I told my parents about you when I was home last week and they're very interested in meeting you. And I'd love for you to see where I grew up."

The chocolate cake felt like a lump of lead in her stomach._ Here I am trying to figure out a way to let him down gently, and he wants me to meet his _parents_? This has gone way too far._

But what else could she say now?

"That sounds… lovely."

* * *

"I just don't know what to do." She closed her eyes, leaning her head against his shoulder. "He obviously has deeper feelings for me than I do for him. And every time I see him, it's like a knife in the chest every time he so much as _smiles_ at me. At this point it almost feels like I'm in too deep to end this cleanly."

Baltor bit back the smile that threatened to spread across his lips, knowing this was not the right time. But that was so like his Bloom, to feel guilty about unintentionally leading on a guy she didn't love. "As much as I hate the fact that he gets to spend time with you, you're pretty easy to fall for, beautiful."

Her cheeks pinkened, and this time he didn't hold back the smile. "But I wouldn't worry," he continued, absently running his fingers through her hair. "You haven't known him for that long, and there is nothing wrong with telling him you think he's moving too fast."

"I just don't want to hurt him." Bloom opened her eyes and turned her head, shifting slightly so she could slide into his lap. "I feel like an awful person for using him. He's a really sweet guy, too."

"I'm sure he is."

They were at what he had come to think of as 'their spot,' by the lake. Magix didn't get snow, but there was an icy edge to the wind that hadn't been there a month ago when they were taking their impromptu dip in the water. Baltor didn't mind; the weather gave him an excuse to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight.

"Oh, are you jealous?" There was a slight lilt to her voice now, and she shifted against him again, this time with no doubt as to her reasons for doing so. "You know you have nothing to worry about. Sky is sweet, but the way a puppy dog is sweet. He could never have my heart."

"That's… certainly good to know," he managed. It was hard to form coherent thoughts with Bloom sitting on his lap, her cherry-red lips temptingly close. Her silky hair tickled his chin, her sweet scent filling his nose until he started to forget that he had been mad before. When he had his arms full of the most beautiful and fiery girl he had ever seen, who had time to be jealous?

"I'm sorry for bogging you down with my problems," she said, moving back a little and allowing him the chance to breathe a little. "I should've been more sensitive, realized that you probably don't want to hear about Sky."

"If something is causing you distress, you should always feel free to talk to me about it, beautiful. That's how a relationship is supposed to work. When you're upset, I want to know why." And to his surprise, Baltor found that he meant every word.

_Where did _that_ come from?_

Bloom smiled, and the sight of it caused something inside his chest to light up like a signal flare, only adding to his confusion. "You're incredible," she said softly, reaching down to lace her fingers with his. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Well, I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, so let's hope you'll never have to find out."

Her eyes sparkled as she leaned in to close the last little bit of distance between them. Her kiss was like a concentrated dose of pure euphoria, like always, but today something felt different.

_By the Great Dragon,_ he realized, with a jolt that felt like a lightning bolt going through him. _I'm in love with her._

* * *

**Author's Note: *pokes head out of hole* Is anyone still out there reading this? Maybe?**

**I am sorry beyond words that this update took so long - and that it was so short, meaning I couldn't even claim the "oh, well I slaved for so long to churn this thing out!" excuse. At first it was because life (ie school) got in the way, and then because of some very exciting stuff surrounding an original work of mine... ****Because I love you all (anyone who's still here), I'm going to tell it to you straight: I'm going to be self-publishing a novella very soon. (How's that for an excuse? ;-)****  
**

**But that is still not really an excuse for taking so long with this chapter, and I apologize profusely. I _am_ committed to finishing this thing, and since summer is coming up now I'll have more time to write. That being said, I realize I've probably lost some people by taking this long to update. For those of you still left, thank you so much for sticking with me, even though I'm a ****horrible, horrible procrastinator. (That is to say, I'm horrible and I'm a procrastinator. If I was horrible at procrastinating, we wouldn't be in this situation.)**

**We're inching towards the end now, darlings - the climax is only a few chapters away. I don't want to promise anything, but I will say that it will not ever be this long for a new update. Again, I can't apologize enough.**

**To everyone reading this now, I love you all for not giving up on me.**

**xoxo,**

**- Authoress**


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